Province and city mergers, the two dragon towers restart, HCMC becomes an International Financial Center, BIDV Tower, reclaiming land of stalled and abandoned projects, COVID-19 memorial park, Saigon River Pedestrian Bridge, the Thu Thiem New Urban Area is gaining momentum. This is the annual construction report for Ho Chi Minh City. Most of these photos […]
Construction Updates
Phu Quoc trip report – 2026 edition
Old Phu Quoc airport redevelopment, the expansion of the current airport, the new urban area to support the APEC meeting, the ambitious Phu Quoc Metro, and hundreds of empty cookie-cutter shophouses and villas in fake European new urban areas. Phu Quoc is the largest island in Vietnam, covering an area of about 574 sq km […]
Phnom Penh trip report (December 2025)
Flying into the new airport of Phnom Penh (and getting the reasonably efficient airport bus), part-time pedestrian walk adds some much-needed public space, interesting skyscrapers (ie not boring blue boxes), and fake Paris update. I visited Phnom Penh in December 2025, which was a year since my last visit. My previous trip involved getting the […]
Bangkok trip report (2025 edition)
The largest urban rooftop garden in Thailand, boring blue boxes (a panacea for the blight of boring blue boxes), the apartment where you can drive to your living room, the Chinatown new urban area (and a new Chinatown arch), Orange Line update, and building a floodwater tunnel under a canal. This is my annual Bangkok […]
Hanoi trip report: construction and metro updates
Construction and transport projects in Hanoi, including the demolition of the Shark Jaw building, Hanoi’s future “floating” opera house, demolition of the historic Post Equipment Factory, Vinhomes world-themed shophouses, West Lake’s fantasy Eurotown and groundscaper apartment, hope for the revival of the VietinBank tower, and metro construction updates. I was in Hanoi in October and […]
Kuala Lumpur construction report – 2025 edition
Penang construction update (2025 edition)
Da Nang construction update – 2025 edition
Da Nang and Hoi An to join forces, Japan’s Aeon Mall, Robert De Niro’s waiting (for his hotel to be built), the riverfront apartment boom, the resort coast, and would you still love Da Nang if the beach were gone? This is the annual construction update for Da Nang, Vietnam. This report includes notes from […]
Vung Tau: The future beach district of Ho Chi Minh City
Bangkok construction update (2024/2025 edition)
Another mall at Siam, the future “Shinjuku of Bangkok”, more classic hotels that have been lost, the South Sukhumvit Innovation District, and a mega project in Chinatown. This is the annual Bangkok construction update, where I visit the most prominent construction projects around the city. Bangkok is one of my most visited cities in Southeast […]
