:: a snap of me celebrating freedom in my glorious native land. Taken on Liberty Island, U-S-Motherfucking A! // AjS

:: taken in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; a pedicab driver wearing Warrior (回力) sneakers.  // AjS

:: see below for some photos and anecdotal (sometimes random) notes from a recent trip I took to southern Vietnam. This was only my second time in Vietnam, so please correct me if I got anything wrong. Thanks.  // AjS

snaps ::

scribbles ::

• Vietnam is really two words and should be spelled Viet Nam.
• Pepsi not Coke.
• I have never seen stores selling caskets before. In Vietnam such stores are all along the roadside. It’s very sad to see a stack of children-sized caskets ready for the sell.
• There are a lot catholic churches in Vietnam.
• Vietnamese cemeteries are above ground and beautiful.
• Warrior sneakers and Tiger beer are the only Chinese brands I noticed in the Vietnamese market.
• Pho is of course never better than in Vietnam.
• Motorbikes not cars.
• Vietnam has some of the most interesting signage, particularly government propaganda anti-smoking, and disease awareness signs.
• Vietnamese people don’t stare, at you in fact, you’re lucky if they look at you at all.
• Some local fishing boats look like teacups floating in the water.
• In-store / shop / home Buddhist shrines have flashing neon lights.
• Quite a few people speak Mandarin. More than I would have expected.
• Samsung and NOKIA seem to be market leaders in the hand set space in Vietnam.
• A few KFC, no McDonalds. A good thing.
• WIFI internet access is fairly readily available in HCM city. The fastest internet connection I’ve accessed in years in in the HCM city airport courtesy of Vietnam Airlines.
• Vietnamese coffee is still the best coffee in the world to me.
• Automobile horns are different…they are considerably louder, at a higher pitch, and more annoying.
• Buildings are tall, skinny, and deep.
• Motorcycle helmets is a good industry to be in.
• “Same same.” is a full and proper sentence in Vietnam.
• Unlike the most of the rest of East Asia, Karaoke is not a very big deal here.
• Barefoot.
• Limes, not lemons.
• Bugs are bigger here.
• What’s the point of the last 3 zeros in local currency?
• The Mekong River is very muddy.
• The Vietnamese, like almost every country I’ve ever visited (accept Germany) appear to be quite patriotic.
• There is no subway in HCM city, although I understand that is going to change soon.
• Although the official name is apparently HCM city, most local people still seem to refer to it as Saigon. Saigon sounds much better, but
• HCM was a pretty interesting guy and probably worst have a big Vietnamese city named after him.
• A lot of graffiti tags, but couldn’t really find and proper pieces.
• There is an odd and very obvious surplus of older Western men with badly done arm tattoos running around this country.
• Palm trees and coconuts.
• To my great delight, 8bit Nintendo is still played by the average Vietnamese “gamer”
• The Saigon River-front in downtown HCM city reminds of what Shanghai must have looked like in the late 80s or so.
• Bread appears to be a pretty standard part of local cuisine…unlike most other East Asian countries.
• Petro not gas.

:: as mentioned a couple months ago, I’ve been trying my hand at lomography. Below is the result of my continued struggle to make sense of this silly hipster gadget. The slideshow has few good snaps (all luck) taken at the MIDI festival in Zhenjiang and a spattering of other places around Shanghai. Enjoy.  // AjS

:: with the media focused on more pressing matters the last month or so, Martin & Vleminckx Rides and The Gravity Group’s latest project – China’s first wooden roller coaster – hasn’t made much of an impact.

Despite the coaster being fully operational, albeit for testing, it will be at least another two months before it’s opened to the public. Follow the coaster’s build progress via The Gravity Group’s feed, or in the ThemeParkReview.com forums.

The coaster’s inaugural run was on April 30, 2009, with a select group of engineers and staff riding the track roughly 1200 meters.

Some stats on the coaster (from the Gravity Group’s Web site)

• 108 feet (33m) tall
• first drop of 104 feet (32m)
• 3,819 feet (1164m) of twisted track
• top speed of 56 mph (90 km/h)
• ten track crossovers
• two road crossovers

The coaster is being built in the confusingly named Happy Valley in Shanghai’s Sheshan area, for Shenzhen’s OCT Property Group. (There is another, more famous Happy Valley in Hong Kong.) This won’t be OCT’s first resort, they’ve been building parks throughout China since early 1998. The park will also feature an innovative 5 star hotel built into the back of an old quarry, as well as a number of other attractions. Shanghaiist has a small writeup about that project here. Happy Valley is set to open around mid July, and the wooden coaster looks like it will take star billing. Visitors will be able to get to the park once it opens, via metro on Line 9, with shuttle buses departing for the park from the Metro station.  // XD

Photo’s provided by Martin & Vleminckx Rides

[Xiao Du (小杜) is a guest contributor on 56minus1]

:: I recently bought a Lomo action sampler camera (4 exposures over about 1 second) at this shop as a present for someone. Here is our first go at it what is apparently called Lomography. Decent results and a lot of fun. There is something to be said for the anticipation and suspense created by a camera that: 1) doesn’t have a proper view finder, 2) no immediate photo review screen, 3) and a couple days wait for the film to develop. The mood and character captured by Lomo snaps is unique – almost like a mini movie; a sliver of time and reality. I like it.  // AjS

:: the folks at Unlike have created a series (seven to date) of city guides that they boldly brand “the definitive city guide for the mobile generation.” The most recently profiled city is Shanghai and Unlike does a solid scan of the Shanghai scene. Heck, even locals will probably learn something from this well-crafted guide. And cheers on how utterly sensible it is for a mobile to double as a city guide.

Anyways, the guide is broken into six, helpful categories: Shop, Food, Hotel, After Dark, Art & Culture, Escapism

Each category lists best-in-category destinations along with vital information easily accessed from your mobile (address, hours, nearest subway, phone number, etc.).

I used the Berlin guide while traveling there and it dramatically enhanced my experience. I also played around with the Shanghai guide this weekend and visited boutique hotel, Jia Shanghai, which is ridiculously indulgent and stunning.

I have only two, simple suggestions for improving the guides: 1) include user recommended / uploaded 1 / 2 / 3 day itineraries (a la Lonely Planet) for those on a schedule and, 2) allow user comments, which will layer additional insight onto each write-up. User uploads / comments will only burnish further what is already a comfortably excellent guide. All in all, kudos to Unlike, who has created a guide that unlocks Shanghai for locals and visitors alike. //

[ is a guest contributor on 56minus1.]

:: taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia // AjS

:: taken in Ubud (Bali, Indonesia) // AjS

:: taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia // AjS