Han Duyen Making

The upper dining room. Before (H© shows that Hân took the shot), and after the works were completed This is the first page on the Colin Brydon Site not to consist entirely of my own photographs. I did not arrive in Vietnam until the day of the opening of the restaurant and so was unable to gather any earlier pictures myself. However, in the preceding three months Hân (H©) and Lợi (L©) had sent me some photographs by Messenger and these now turn out to be the only surviving pictures of the restaurant before completion. They are nearly all of excellent quality showing how much can be done with a Samsung phone. Hopefully they give a feel of the amazing conversion which happened in just 64 working days. Work started on 11th August and the opening was on 10th November 2018. Some tasks went on in parallel, and there were usually 6 to 8 people working, mostly drawn from the extended family; a family which includes metal workers, carpenters, builders and decorators. More specialist jobs such as making the chairs and tables, or painting the mural went to people from outside the family. Rear of buildings at the beginning.

The rear of the building, (H©) which now houses the kitchen and the toilets, was raised, and the metal framework put in place - as seen above (H©). Below the new corrugated roof is in place Finished rear of building.

The main room (H©) as building site... Similar photograph after works.

...and here in its new pristine elegance Temporary floor during building works.

Two views (L©) of the main room during... Decorators in main room.

...the decoration phrase of the works (L©) The chandelier into place.

The chandelier is put in place (L©) before the decorating is finished View of main room.

And here a general view at the time of opening showing the completed decorations, balustrade and chandelier Balustrade waiting installation.

The balustrade, designed by Hân and made by his cousin; waiting to be installed (H©) The balustrade in place.

And here it is seen in place. The same design was used for the bannister on the staircase The painting of the mural.

The large mural, (L©) on the balcony above the bar, was painted directly onto the plaster by two local painters. The scene, as you can see in the picture above, was on their cell phones; modern technology assisting the execution of the most
ancient of arts The corridor area as building site.

Looking down into the lower corridor (H©) and the holes being made to accommodate the doors and windows into the private dining rooms that lead from the corridor The floor being put into the corridor.

To the left (H©) looking down from where the upper corridor will be, into the lower corridor. And then above, the floor is in and the upper corridor is being decorated. (L©) The completed upper corridor.

The upper corridor... The completed lower corridor.

...and the lower corridor completed Walls being breached for private dining rooms.

The pictures above show the wooden door and window frames of the private dining rooms. Below - centre (H©) - they are newly in place. To the left (H©), the demolition needed to accommodate these frames. The result the immaculate room on the right Door and window frames for private dining room.