Institut du Radium de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Vietnam

[pabcbc]

We are on a holiday in Vietnam, in the capital Hanoi. The country was under French rule from 1890 to 1954, there is a French quarter in Hanoi complete with Opera, Central Bank, European-style wide treelined boulevards. The Vietnamese do not care much in remembering the period, all official buildings have been rebadged (mostly with the same use as before) with no mention of the French past.

This is why we were surprised to see “RF” for “République Française” on the front of the building of the “Institut du Radium de Hanoi” also written in French. This is the only building where the French name was kept that we could notice (apart from hotels). The intention at the time was to cure cancers using radiotherapy under the form of radiations from actual radium metal.

It is being refurbished/redeveloped (see pic); a builder waved us in. It does not seem to have changed since completion in 1929 (building started in 1923) , and although some rooms were vaguely occupied, looked derelict enough to qualify. Certainly no cancer cure or research was taking place when we visited.

So here it is, the Institut du Radium de Hanoi, fka Institut Marie Curie, her bust is in the main staircase still. It looks like it will lose its name on the frontispice when redeveloped. For now it looks as good as planned 100 years ago.

 

[Pastybarm]

love those old colonial buildings, very jealous!!

 

[Hayman]

love those old colonial buildings, very jealous!!

Very true about the building. It will be a shame if the elegant name is covered up. As for, "The intention at the time was to cure cancers using radiotherapy under the form of radiations from actual radium metal", the earliest form of therapy for cancers? Are things that different today? Just more refined.

 

[Pastybarm]

Not certain on that, but that is a great building, thanks for sharing.

 

[BikinGlynn]

Thats quite nice. different world when they just invite u in to take pics aint it!

 

[Hayman]

Thats quite nice. different world when they just invite u in to take pics aint it!

Different cultures, different attitudes. Some bad, some good - as here. A shop at the end of my road is going to an estate agent's. The board showing the previous business's name was removed and a new one fitted. Still there was an earlier name: BUDGENS. Now, who had a Budgen's mini-supermarket in their neighbourhood? I remember one near me in west London.

 

[BikinGlynn]

Different cultures, different attitudes. Some bad, some good - as here. A shop at the end of my road is going to an estate agent's. The board showing the previous business's name was removed and a new one fitted. Still there was an earlier name: BUDGENS. Now, who had a Budgen's mini-supermarket in their neighbourhood? I remember one near me in west London.

yep budgens in Burton Latimer when I lived there. what ever happened to "presto" supermarket?

 

[Cuban B.]

I like it. The corridor shot could easily be in a Euro asylum.

 

[Hayman]

yep budgens in Burton Latimer when I lived there. what ever happened to "presto" supermarket?

I do not recall Presto stores, but, from Wikipedia: "Presto Foodmarkets was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in Great Britain, which first appeared in the early 1960s. While the fate of most of the chain's stores was conversion to Safeway, the final stores still trading as Presto were either closed or sold in 1998."

Some Presto shops went to Spar, which I do remember. As for the name Spar: "The name was originally DESPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig[note 1] (English: "Through united co-operation everyone regularly profits")". Since Spar began inn 1932, DESPAR's acronym was 90 years before today's touchy-feely wokish trendiness.

 

[BikinGlynn]

I do not recall Presto stores, but, from Wikipedia: "Presto Foodmarkets was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in Great Britain, which first appeared in the early 1960s. While the fate of most of the chain's stores was conversion to Safeway, the final stores still trading as Presto were either closed or sold in 1998."

Some Presto shops went to Spar, which I do remember. As for the name Spar: "The name was originally DESPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig[note 1] (English: "Through united co-operation everyone regularly profits")". Since Spar began inn 1932, DESPAR's acronym was 90 years before today's touchy-feely wokish trendiness.

we had one in corby, I remember it well from my childhood.
Every friday my brother & I & 2 girls we knew would pile into the boot of our astra estate while the parents occupied the seats & do the weekly shop in Presto.
Then over to sit in bakery (was later a bakers oven but cant remember what is was before that) for a jam doughnut if we had behaved.

 

[verdigris]

Different cultures, different attitudes. Some bad, some good - as here. A shop at the end of my road is going to an estate agent's. The board showing the previous business's name was removed and a new one fitted. Still there was an earlier name: BUDGENS. Now, who had a Budgen's mini-supermarket in their neighbourhood? I remember one near me in west London.

I've been shopping at my local village Budgens mini market for the last 25 years. Easy to park, friendly staff, convenient for shopping the basics. It's closing down for 8 weeks tomorrow, turning into Tesco. Who will probably make most of the long serving, local staff, redundant, and will install the dreaded self-service tills. Not an improvement, I think.

 

[Hayman]

I've been shopping at my local village Budgens mini market for the last 25 years. Easy to park, friendly staff, convenient for shopping the basics. It's closing down for 8 weeks tomorrow, turning into Tesco. Who will probably make most of the long serving, local staff, redundant, and will install the dreaded self-service tills. Not an improvement, I think.

Change does always mean betterment.