Mapping 2 - The Manor, My Dinh, Hanoi

- "It's so beautiful!" - said Mary
- "Yeah, too bad no one lives here" - said I
It was part of the joke Mary and I had when we explored The Manor that Friday afternoon. And I guess others were having the same conversation topic. Well, the first thing I would say about the place is that: It's even QUIETER. But things here were so different from the other parts of the city. Although it was also quiet, like the underdeveloped site we came last time, I didn't feel any peace or calm or likeness.(Trees were used for just decoration, you could sit down under them, just that they had no shade)It was beautiful with French-style-building, and sometimes passing by the area in the past, I did want to live there. Now that I have understood more about the nature of these blocks, it's no longer a happy dream.
It was EMPTY, we hardly encountered anyone walking blocks to blocks (except for a guard who forbid us to go deeper inside). I kinda felt pity for the houses as they were standing there waiting to deteriorate, to be dust-covered and moss-grown before anyone can truly adore and get to know them.
It was ISOLATED, I'd expected before because of the article discussed in class and we'd known for sure that some items in the list would never be found in the neighborhood and within 2km around it. And we were right, it didn't take much time to testify that. Amenities like schools or hospitals couldn't be noticed nearby. There were only a kindergarten which costs more than $5,000 per term for a child. What a premium! Anyway, what high living standard means if people are not exposed to basic needs like seeing a doctor or having education and many other things.
Around The Manor lied some unfinished works. They were untidy and full of sand. This made me think of dis-unification which is not only in places like this but also made a fact in the whole Hanoi. Buildings keep appearing while the accompanied infrastructure system hasn't been developed at the same pace. These ended up being a waste of the society and in the end they become abandoned cement and "memorable" fortress that people, some of whom lost their houses and homes for exchange of them. For no better, I mean.
Who doesn't want their country to develop, to grow but not all agree such a price. The role of planning, sustainable and reasonable one, is really essential now