to take your mind away from Saigon and Hanoi for a moment
Yen Bai city.
People tend to focus on the main cities and forget that many small cities are growing......I visited a number of small cities in the south......I 'm very happy, because building construction are everywhere. I'm not exaggerating when I say this.....each city is now building a new bridge....and all the French colonial building are being restored to it's original splendor...construction of big and small are everywhere........I love the small cities in the mekong areas.....
Yen Bai is in the north however.....will visit her someday.

http://img36.echo.cx/img36/7696/yenbai9rf.jpg
http://img36.echo.cx/img36/3318/yenbai29sm.jpg
http://img36.echo.cx/img36/3742/yenbaidfd5qp.jpg
http://img36.echo.cx/img36/6217/yenbaisds2at.jpg

That's great,bang! I have some pics of Nam Dinh city,should we merge this thread into "Cities in the North"?

Yeah let's do it!

That would be a good idea...beside i have no clue what so ever wat happening in these smaller cities.

The city of Nam Dinh

City church:
http://life.ttvnol.com/uploaded/minhnhat2/a12.jpg
Old drawing from belleindochine.free.fr:
http://belleindochine.free.fr/images/Dessin/785Eglise.jpg

Dome and Vi Xuyen lake:
http://life.ttvnol.com/uploaded/thanh_nien_xa_vo/namdinh01c.jpg

Old temples nearby:
http://life.ttvnol.com/uploaded/hailoc/cl2.jpg----http://life.ttvnol.com/uploaded/hailoc/cl3.jpg----http://vn-style.com/myhomeland/nicefinds/images/phominh1.jpg

Map:
http://www.wompom.ca/vietnam/gfx/vn-map-namdinh.gif

Unique bridge,only two of this kind in Vietnam,the other one is in Hoi An:
http://www.ttvnol.com/uploaded/BigMan79VN/cau%20ngoi%20-%20toan%20canh.jpg

Flag pole tower:
http://www.namdinh.vn/50Nam/images/cot%20co%20nd.jpg
New Hoa Vuong urban project:
http://www.namdinh.vn/50Nam/images/Khu-do-thi-Hoa-Vuong1.jpg
http://www.namdinh.vn/50Nam/images/Khu-do-thi-Hoa-Vuong2.jpghttp://www.namdinh.vn/50Nam/images/Khu-do-thi-Hoa-Vuong3.jpg

images sources:ttvnol.com - namdinh.vn - wompom.ca

awesome :eek2:

the bridge and the dome at the Vi Xuyen lake look awesome! really trully beautiful, increadibly preserved... well maybe the bridge needs a little renovation, but anyway, it is just too beautiful...

That dome church is really interesting...that is the first church in Vietnam with a dome design i have seen so far. Before that i though all of the churches' typical design have the towers as in Đức Bà Cathedral...rarely a dome design.

That dome church is really interesting...that is the first church in Vietnam with a dome design i have seen so far. Before that i though all of the churches' typical design have the towers as in Đức Bà Cathedral...rarely a dome design.


you are so wrong, there are many many churches with domes like that photo in Vietnam, especially the north (I got the book)..............even in Saigon, if you go to Govap district on Quang Trung street, there is this white church modeled after the Florence church in Italy, it was built by Nam Phuong empress uncle. the church's interior is decorated with italian marble mosiacs and the ceilling is to die for, it's very unusual.from the Romaneques and Gothic churches building you see all over saigon and Vietnam. there are also 2 tombs burried inside that church with 2 big human size marble statues of the uncle and his wife kneeled along side the tombs. But I love the ceilling

note: this one built by Nam Phuong's uncle
Huyen Sy church is built by her father. She's the first vietnamese royal who's catholic.

could someone go to Govap and get a photo of this church? it's facing the Govap "hanh thong tay" market on Quang Trung Street.