The house with its additional two floors added in 2012
The first step in converting the ground floor - walls removed, and the staircase was given bannisters!
This page continues the story,
started on the last page,
of the building of Hân's house. The first changes saw the removal of the internal walls on the ground floor, but with the staircase left in place (left, and below). At this point two more stories were added on top of the original - see picture above - the staircase thus leading to the upper two floors. The final changes came later when it was possible to buy the ground behind the house; previously a mosquito infested swamp. This purchase allowed a rear extention to the building with a large kitchen and a new staircase so freeing up the whole ground floor to be a large dining room for the restaurant.
Two photos showing the enlarged...
...area in use for dining - the scars from the wall still evident
A clip of the ground as it had been
Hân then had the opportunity to buy the area behind the house. And so the final phrase of development started: converting the swamp to a garden and extension.
Once good fortune has been sought the digger can move in and clear the ground of shrubs
A new building requires some ceremony. Before the work could start an improvised altar was put in place and a priest invited to help the new enterprise go smoothly
Behind the building foundations were dug out and the...
...remaining area was filled with earth ready for the garden
Foundations of the new kitchen and staircase area are put in place
Walls going up - bricks flying!
Large amounts of concrete are needed for the floors...
...these have to be raised to the higher levels in buckets by motorised winch
From the noise of a building site to the peace of a meal being prepared in the new kitchen
A birthday party is laid out on mats in the new large dining area - the staircase gone
Now most meals are taken at tables, here a family gathering, and a dog that knows it is getting nothing
The completed large kitchen and in the background the
new high power
gas burners
No celebratory meal is complete without a finale of karaoke
A smaller western new year celebration with these confetti tubes - a registry office's nightmare
Here Hân proposes a toast at a meal in the new dinning area built for the restaurant, but freely available for the family and friends. The bar can be seen in the background
But buildings are for a purpose and in Vietnam a key reason for a house's existence is not forgotten. It is to provide a place for meeting, such as this family gathering on the left with Hân and his two brothers, their parents, and their families.
Or maybe even more central to Vietnamese life, the large gathering at
a meal for
friends and family.
Hân, face on, at the left, his father's spectacles just appearing, and Duyên (Hân's wife) laughing down to the right.
That is the house that Hân built.
Trailers...
The next page
takes you out from the house and onto the road that goes to the market.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Slippery Pronouns'.
Or go to the contents of the Mosaic Section.
The last page showed the first building of the house
Another house the photographer has lived in - Narenjestan, Shiraz
...guide to this site