Shell decorations

Dawn on Pasteur st

Early dinner at Au Parc

The Hà Nội gloom

I took this while driving into Hà Nội from their airport last week. Classic Hà Nội grey which I seem to see every second time I go there. Hà Nội Daily Photo does a good job of showing the more colourful side of the city.

Dawn over Saigon

I love this view of the city - the airport at the top, the roads that act as arteries bringing people into the city centre, the under-construction east-west highway running straight through the middle of the picture, the lack of development across the river from downtown, the river and canals, the more organised urban areas at the bottom of the picture. For those who know the city, there is a lot to digest. This picture needs to be enlarged

Roadside fish sale

Occasionally you see the goldfish guys on the side of the road. There is generally a group of them around the corner of Đinh Tiên Hoàng and Phan Đăng Lưu streets in Bình Thanh district. I would love to know how many fish causalities there are daily from sitting out in this heat.

Phú Mỹ bridge nearing completion

3 months on from the last post, the Phú Mỹ bridge is getting close to being ready for traffic. it just looks like the onramps need a lot more time as seen here. There will be a "Phun Run" over the bridge on 6 September to commemorate the opening of the bridge for those living in HCMC

Graves in the crop fields

All over Vietnam you will see tombs in rice paddies. This lot look like they are surrounded by sugarcane.

Downtown in shade

More Occ Health and Safety

Following on from our painter and sign writer, these guys are decked out in hardhats and plastic sandals - the right gear for any construction site

Better workplace health and safety

Compared to a few days ago, this guy is actually wearing a harness while working at height.

Dried squid

Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh st

Localised flooding, construction, driving the wrong way, truck driver asleep in the cab - all standard on the cities worst road, Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh st.

Painter

The lack (but improving) occupational health and safety standards always scares you the first time you see it. This painter is at the third level of a building, with his leg wrapped around the rung as his only means of holding on. The ladder is actually two bamboo ladders tied together, and the ladder is secured only to a railing on the roof. The scariest part for me is that this guy probably does this everyday. The other issue is that they never use a drip sheet, so even as they start at the top and work their way down, there are paint drips all over things (like the shingle roof tiles here), that end up covered in paint.

Hauling goods

Obligatory empty bottle

July Theme Day - Empty

I found this theme day quite difficult. I wanted to shy away from empty buildings or restaurants, an empty park or grandstand, empty bottles or beaches. So I thought a image of the back of a camera with no pictures in it would be most appropriate.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Large painting on the move

This one cracked me up - not for the sheer size of driving around with at least a 2 m x 1 m canvas on a motorbike, but that the canvas was uncovered and it was spitting rain. Hope they were not going far. In the past I have only seen large pictures transported like this, still uncovered, but slightly more protected

Red onions

Where is the Tehran24 blogger?

Today the City Daily Photo bloggers have arranged a "sub theme day" to support the owner of a daily photo blog from Tehran called Tehran24, who has been reported missing since June 17, 2009. The images captured on Tehran24 highlight symbols of protest, made famous by the shocking images of Neda Agha-Soltan's death.

This reminded me of a famous symbol of protest from my own city. Back in 1963 a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc sat down crosslegged in the middle of a busy street in Saigon, his robes soaked in fuel, and set fire to himself; his body was quickly engulfed in flames. The haunting and horrifying protest against the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese regime got results: as more monks began to emulate Thich Quang Duc's example, President Ngo Dinh Diem fell from favor. In November 1963 he was removed from power by a coup d'etat and executed.

We are all concerned about the situation of Tehran24 and hope to hear positive news soon Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Lanterns

Clear skies yesterday afternoon

Although the wet season is among us, it has gotten off to a unpredictable start. No rain yesterday made for a very hot afternoon and evening.

Drive through helmet shopping

This scene is one of my favourites in Saigon. Families on motorbikes drive up the footpath to the shop they wish to purchase from, choose what they are after and depart - all without taking off their helmets, getting off the motorbike or even turning the engine off.

Clouds over the Saigon river