Look at this tiny shrine:
The walls and roof are made of an old storage box. A sapling grows from the concrete, this is a baby banyan, the tree of awakening. Cute, isn't it?
I had this stroll in the downtown of Saigon on July 15, 2024. There was no clear photo mission, I just wanted an easy walk without insane traffic and that's why I headed to District 1.
Such shrines on street intersections are actually regular. Like this one:
This was actually where I started my walk after leaving the bus from District 3. Bui Vien Street. My lucky place since images I took from there, right from this shrine were sold and published so many times starting since 2017.
As you see this shrine is more developed, with a statue placed in a sort of cupboard and a writing "A-di-đà Phật" which means Amitabha. So that's clearly a Buddhist shrine.
And that's someone near the shrine with the body of an Oriental sage but I bet, if he awakens, his first words to me would be "Motorbike?"
Another type of shrine, a shrine of sausages. Never tried them. I learned this type of production in Thailand - very-very cheap one, made of... better not to know.
Temples of all kinds are surprisingly accompanied by classic propaganda posters (yes, let's not forget that only one party is allowed in Vietnam, the Communist Party).
An amusing mix of socialist realism and something else (more modern and ugly). That's about revolutionary spirit according to Google.translate.
As for the ladies below, they are reminding about the resistance of Southern Vietnamese against the French in 1945:
My tip: be careful about learning from such posters, Saigon museums, and official guides and books - Vietnam is full of propaganda and all sorts of lies. Instead, talk to people in the streets, and you'll be surprised.
Another lovely poster I encountered at the same intersection:
Yes, there is this problem in Vietnam: you can sometimes see people peeing on the streets. It happens everywhere but, in Vietnam, it's a regular thing. Or when a bus travels through rural Vietnam, it stops to let people pee: men pee along the road, and women go into the nearest bushes. Not always but sometimes. And don't think it's awful - Vietnam is developing and sometimes lacks facilities.
Another typical thing from Saigon:
No comment... Traffic is hell here, but they keep things under control in District 1. And I love it.
A sad one on my way... Why sad? These black wires... When I arrived to Bui Vien Street for the first time, it was fully entangled in them. Nowadays, they have them underground... That's progress, okay, but so much atmosphere in those cables when they hang in bunches above streets, miss them. 😞
The colonial heritage.
A marble lady of Saigon Opera.
Pasteur Street, great they keep the original names.
French architecture and modern high-rise buildings constructed in the age of the updated "socialism" are two components forming the face of central Saigon.
But there are other cultural inclusions:
A Hindi temple in the very heart of the downtown, open to everyone.
It was almost 5:30 pm when I left the temple, the sky was telling that the rain was coming.
More stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out my previous posts on my personal Travelfeed or Worldmappin map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on July 15, 2024, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.