Ho Chi Minh City @ October 2010

While reviewing the ride from airport yesterday and exploring chaotically the city at later morning today, the first thing, evidently charakteristic for HCMC, is the lack of pedestrians in downtown.
Once someone has claimed, that Los Angeles might have no options for walker because of the lack of public transport and the dominance of intercity motorways and streams. The American and especially the Californian affinity to driving cars, BIG cars, was the second explanation. However, we know that it was never true and that today more than ever LA and California in general is doing more efficient work on transportation infrastructures than a lot of other states in USA. So LA has got pedestrians, I did it many times.
The downtown of HCMC has got, historically developed, well marked pedestrian ways in both side of all streets. You can see hardly someone walking on the space stretching between buildings and streets, let's call them pedestrian ways, which are predominantly ruled by motorcycles. At the afternoon, at the height of rush hour, which lasts from 4PM to 8PM, motorcylist are using pedestrian ways without any problem as a surrogat or alernative. It is alienating, to see how the inherent kinetics of HCMC determine exclusively daily live. Almost nobody is walking in downtown almost everyone is driving a motorcycle, sometimes a car or bycicle, the pedestrian ways are ocupied by parking or moving motorised small vehicles.



Ho Chi Minh City @ October 2010

The city is lost, in finit fatality, in her own dynamics.

The pure kinetics is the essential and the only image of HCMC:
describing it, writing it, manipulating it, vanishing it and at the end of the day making it.

Ho Chi Minh City @ October 2010

The first benefit of hotel's geographic position was, that I could go to hairstylist at 11.55PM, five minutes before midnight, incl. a facial treatment in order to forget the historic day in Kuala Lumpur.
The hotel is in the heart of the most touristic polluted area of the city. I did not notice it, while making the reservation in web. What the hell, I thought.


On the way to the city from airport a sea of motorcycles are surrounding me. In front, back, sideway, and certainly above and beneath the cab, they are indefinite number of cyclists, streaming through the beautiful evening.

Ho Chi Minh City @ October 2010

HCMC is pure kinetics.

Kuala Lumpur @ October 2010


Soundtrack of KL:
Bach, cantatas
Cat Power, mixed


Liveablitity score (worse 1-5 best)
Sustainability:3
Sociodiversity: 3
Public transport:4
Creative Index: 3



Kuala Lumpur @ October 2010
Who gets history?

KL during the day is mavellous. A fine, small town, with a clearly defined touristic area, a minor high rail system, and wonderefull hotels and swimming poools.


KL is, succeding the discursive statements of the former state leader Dr Mahatir during 1980/1990th, the prototype for the realisation of the new Asian spirit. Even if he did not use the term "Asianness" explicitly, it was the birth moment of New Asia, including an heavy work on defining new Asian values. In order to fix the idea of the "New", he created, in accordance to the work done in Taiwan, South Korea and Singapor, an savage, unlimited, unbound, dynamic and eclectic system of capitalist economy. He was, obviously, successful.

But what we know really about Asian values?



KL is Petrona Towers. No other architectural landmark in Asia was, at least in last two decades, so consitutive for national confidence. A pair ot two high rise buildings in the middle of the town is the SYMBOL for Kl/ Malayasia. As if they could not create any other monument or real sign than a skyscraper as a confidence building procedure. Anything in the city remembers one on Petrona Towers, their sole existence in real external world seems to disappear in favor of pictures, movies, plastic/ metal / stone based miniatures of them you shall buy everywhere. Petrona Towers are, at some stage, just a clichee. Or a template for fantasies.

Kuala Lumpur @ October 2010
A nice fable for a small tiger

Arriving at the very early morning in KL, the dark heat at 4.40 AM was beating my face. Who the *F.... is flying at midnight above the coast of South Chinese Sea? The smell of petroleum in air, sleepy ghosts on streets and a rail station, which was more an empty temple in a lost and depopulated village, than in THE finance capital of East Asia, as his - former- excellency and my colleague Dr M. Mahatir never stoped to claim Malayasia to be. The holy hall was full of ATMs. But none of these cash mashines accept any Eurpean bank card, around the station is a big constructin site, almost no way out, and no way in. Good morning KL, the city what sleeped very well.