Saigon Sunset

The haze that was deposited on Saigon by super typhoon Bopha, about 6 days ago, still lingers and we are enjoying spectacular sunsets as a result.
Last night I went up to the top of the Thu Thiem Bridge to watch the sun go down and to record some video of the city and the Saigon River for you.

The Port of Saigon is a river port just like London and the Thu Thiem Bridge is the first one downstream of the docks so there is always an interesting stream of river traffic to watch. 

Dozens of workers and young lovers stop on the bridge on their way home from the city to take in the view. I  chatted to a young woman as I filmed and she proudly showed me all the sunset photos on her phone. 


The map shows the area affected by super typhoon Bopha which hit land in the southern Philippines in the region around Davao. The authorities are still trying to locate about 300 fishermen who went scuttling off to the Spratly Islands which are about two thirds of the way to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), as you can see. 

The blue line on the map outlines the disputed area of the South China Sea that China claims as their territorial waters. You can see it runs from Taiwan, declared by China as a rougue Chinese state and runs close to the territorial waters of three other countries. As recently as last Thursday, China asked Vietnam to cease its oil exploration activities in a disputed area. 

• South China Sea has long been a bone of contention between China and several members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). China lays claim to almost the entire South China Sea including what is recognized by the U.N. as the exclusive economic zones of other neighbors, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.   Beijing’s relations with Vietnam has grown worse in the past weeks over China’s decision to include in its revised passports an offending map, which shows Beijing staking its claim on the entire South China Sea
• Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/south-china-sea-china-vietnam-clash-over-oil-exploration-fishing-923341