At approximately 9:45 PM last night, the power went out for part of the Phu Nhuan District, Tan Binh District and District 10 (roughly from the canal area south to District 10). Usually it is just a localized blackout affecting my alleyway and surrounding areas but from the top of my terrace on the 5th floor, I could tell it was widespread. Since it was Tet Eve in Saigon, I knew it would take awhile for the power to return.
At the time I my Thinkpad was compiling an open source ERP. When I went up to the terrace after the blackout, I noticed a helicopter flying above the Phu Nhuan and Tan Binh districts (It is not normal to see helicopters flying over Saigon even during the day. After waiting for over one hour for the power to return, I decided to head to my friend’s house in District 1. I returned home at around 1 AM, the power had returned 🙂
(My Thinkpad was my only source of light in the bedroom)
(Little white spec is the helicopter over the Tan Binh District)
(Train station turned on it’s emergency backup generator which was loud)
(I got a nice meal from this street food vendor at around midnight)
I remember those blackouts when I was living in Binh Thanh district last year. They were so damn annoying!
They do not happen often but I heard that this year, we may get more blackouts. I need to get back my UPS for my desktop from my server. The day blackouts do not bother me but when they happen at night, they can be a pain 🙁