DRAMA

CONSULAT DE FRANCE

Today, it is le jour de patrimoine in France. Hereby, private government owned buildings are open to visit by the public. 

The French consulat in Ho Chi Minh City opened its doors to public and we went down there to see it. It is beautiful. The private residence is built on 2ha in the middle of the city. There is a wonderful porch around the house with green shutters.

Embassies always have something special. These buildings, hidden behind high walls, steel gates and thousands of guards and cameras are like a little part of the home country in a foreign city and country. This consulat is an wonderful example of this. A beautiful house set in a idyllic garden in the middle of this crazy city. 

 

SAIGON TRAFFIC

 

This project is a movie of 10.000 pictures shot from the air in Saigon. It was made by Rob Whitworth and has known international attention. It clearly shows the energy of the city and most of all its crazy traffic. Some cars, little more taxis and THOUSANDS of motorbikes chasing these streets everyday. 

All pictures and movies courtesy of the amazing Rob Whitworth

QUEEN OF SAIGON

LANA DEL REY, recently crowned as woman of the year by GQ, announced this September that she will NOT be working on a further album. "I don't think I'll write another record. What would it say? Everything I wanted to say, I've said already." 

After one studio album, she likes to work on film music. 

Although Lana Del Rey is American, she spoke the words Queen of Saigon in her song National Anthem. These words will always remind me of a good friend and this place.

She'll always be the Queen of Saigon

HO CHI MINH CITY

After the Vietnam War was ended and North & South Vietnam were merged to one country again on 2 July 1976, the name Saigon disappeared forever and was replaced by Ho Chi Minh City, named after Ho Chi Minh. 

I think, together with many other Vietnamese people, that Saigon sounded way better. It has something mysterious and dark and holds a lot of history. 

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