Friday, May 20, 2016

Slowly... slowly.....

Since returning from Vietnam in March I have not been all that well. Apparently an enlarged thyroid is causing shortness of breathe and tiredness.

This has meant serious delays to the Re-Unification Express e-mag and the updating of the web site.

I have lots of bits and pieces to update and lots of photos to post, but a serious lack of inclination to do so.

I am due for an operation in the near future, quite straightforward I'm told, and that should renew my ability to get on with my plans.

In the meantime the much delayed Issue 6 of the magazine should be available in the next couple of days and then Number 7 to follow, hopefully before my operation.

In the meantime the rebuilding of the Ghenh Bridge continues with trains providing a local service from Saigon to Di An and ex Hanoi trains terminating at Bien Hoa.

Carriages have had to be moved by truck so that rolling stock is in the right place, a major undertaking in itself.


A plus for this is that the trains from Di An to Saigon and return are proving very popular, the nearest Saigon gets to a suburban service. Hopefully they will continue after the bridge restoration and run through to Bien Hoa.

Initially the plan was to restore the two spans that fell into the river, but the Government has now decided that the entire bridge should be upgraded, still with the same completion date of sometime in July.

Another recent upgrade is the new main station building at Bien Hoa, opened last September.

The photo above shows the old building, parts of which seemed to have survived colonialism, war and peace for nearly a century, but now gone to be replaced by a modern concrete and glass structure.

I suppose customers need modern facilities, but it is a shame when such historical buildings are demolished.

On the modelling front I have basically completed the  Coopmart supermarket and am now embarking on the building of the front of a market (Cho), based on the Market at Phan Rang, but smaller.


I will just be building the front wall as it will be placed against the backdrop.

Until next time...........