SAIGON : The Chinese Arroyo (Creek)
The Messageries Maritimes (Maritime Transport ) Building
On the Yser embankment, in the middle of the financial district (Bank of Indochina, Franco-Chinese Bank, Bank of Hong Kong and Shanghai), is located one of the oldest buildings in Saigon, built in 1862 out of red brick. It is that of the Imperial Maritime Transport Company, which became the Messageries Maritimes under the Third Republic.
Ships would travel up the Saigon River to the harbor, 83 Km. (51½ miles) from the sea. The docks and M.M. building were immortalized in Jean-Jacques Annaud's film “L ‘Amant” (The Lover), from the novel by Marguerite Duras.
The Far-East is the exclusive domain of the Messageries Maritimes. Saigon is the company’s second home-port, from which radiate small-tonnage ships assigned to local lines. They provide service to Haiphong for the north of the country, as well as for the Poulu-Condor islands and their penal colony built in the 1880’s in the image of the one in Cayenne (Guyana).
During the ‘70's the Messageries Maritimes (MM) and the Compagnie Génèrale Transatlantique (CGM) merged to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime (C.G.M.).
3 J.Eudel Street
Saigon
Saigon embankment
Watercolor by Charles Fouqueray
Today the Messageries Maritimes building still stands, on the bank of the Saigon River. It no longer serves passengers, but is now the Ho Chi Mnh museum!
The Saigon Commercial Port
The Bank of Indochina (now National Bank of Vietnam)
The Bank of Indochina, a private French bank founded in 1875, controls the entire Vietnamese economy, it was located at :
262, quai de Belgique (Belgium Embankment now Bên Chuong Duong)
Saigon
A branch is located at 178 LeLoi Street (Eden Passage) as well as in Cholon.
The headquarters of the Bank of Indochina is located at 96 Boulevard Haussman, in the 8th district of Paris.
The Bank of Indochina was bult in 1930, out of Biên Hoà granite, by the architect Félix Dumail, with:
- on the outside, columns inspired by Khmer archictecture.
- on the inside, a magnificent Art Deco style.
Khannhoi bridge
Arc-en-Ciel (rainbow) bridge
The Saigon Commercial Port
La Pointe des Blagueurs
The "Joker's Point"
In front of the "Joker's Point" Cafe were sampans and ocean-going junks as well as a Mobil service station.
The "Joker's Point Cafe"
(Café de la Pointe des Blagueurs)
The "Joker's Point" restaurant (Restaurant de la Pointe des Blagueurs) was run by its owner, Madame Durand. From here one could dream while watching ocean liners arriving and departing from the "Messageries Maritimes" dock across from the restaurant.
The terrace faced the confluence of the Saigon River and the Chinese Arroyo.
On Sundays, the people of Saigon often had a drink or a light meal on the floating dock of the "Jokers Point"cafe, located on the Quai de Belgique (Belgium Embankment).
Argonne embankment by Marcelino Truong
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Au Baccara
165, Testard Street ( Trân-quy-Cap)
Au Printemps
164, Gia Long Street Kitchener Boulevard
Kitchener Boulevard's bus station
On the road to : Grall Hospital 14, Rue Gialong
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Bierdermann & Co
Exclusive agent : Biedermann & Co Lavande
Lacquered art works, ivory, antiques from China, silk-painting. Clinic Saint-Paul
280, Legrand de la Liraye Street Good addresses in
Diem-Le
117-b, Lê Thanh Tôn |
The Plateau
The Plateau dominates the rest of the city by several meters. It is located after Norodom Boulevard behind Notre Dame Cathedral. It is here that one finds the very exclusive "Cercle Sportif" club as well as the residences of leading colonial citizens of Cochin China and the Pasteur Institute.
Chasseloup-Laubat Street (now Nguyên Thi Minh Khai):
The Marquis of Chasseloup-Laubat was Minister of the Navy for the Colonies under Napoleon III. He founded the Protectorate of Cambodia and completed the conquest of Cochin-China.
Chasseloup-Laubat Street is one of the longest in the city of Saigon. It begins in the north at the bridge of Arroyo de l’Avalanche (Avalanche Creek) (Thi Nghè), runs along the Saigon Botanical Gardens, crosses the width of the city and ends at the line between Saigon and Cholon. In going through the central part of the city, the street borders on one side of the old Governor General’s Palace, now the Palace of Independence. It also passes in front of the Collège Chasseloup-Laubat, a high school built in 1875.
Chasseloup-Laubat College
This college which will subsequently become the “Lycée Jean-Jacques Rousseau”.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau High School
Since the ‘70’s, the school has officially been called: “Etablissement de l’Enseignement Général du 2e Degré” (General Establishment of Secondary Education), “Lê Quý Dôn”.
In 1930, Marguerite Duras, (pen–name of French author and playwright Marguerite Donnadieu) would study at Chasseloup-Laubat and received her degree there.
At the end of the ‘30’s, it would be Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia’s turn.
La Boule Gauloise
37, Chasseloup-Laubat Street
The Saigon Cercle Sportif
It was at the "Cercle Sportif" that formal dress balls of Saigon's elite were held.
Cercle Sportif Saigonnais
55, Chasseloup-Laubat Street
Le bâtiment est entouré par un très beau parc, ancien Parc Blanchard-de-la-Brosse où eut lieu la grande foire de Saïgon en 1948.
Michelin Tire
Offices of the Saigon Michelin tire manufacturing company
180, Chasseloup Labat Street
Saigon
Manufactory in Hoc-Môn
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