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 […]
Trip Reports
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)
Hat Yai construction and transport report – 2025 edition
Chiang Mai construction and transport report – 2025 edition
The big Night Bazaar redevelopment, turning the old women’s prison into a park, an unusual abandoned mall waiting for a developer, a modern apartment tower in a potential future hotspot, the light rail plan, the two airports plan, and waterway rehabilitation. Chiang Mai is one of my home bases in Southeast Asia, so I have […]
Vietnam’s most provincial international beach city
Quy Nhon trip report (2025 edition). A review of apartment and hotel towers under construction, the resort project that will be connected to the city by cable car, the abandoned Japanese-themed new urban area, and prospects for the city with the future high-speed railway. Quy Nhon, Vietnam Quy Nhon is the capital of Binh Dinh […]
