Since the launch of economic reforms nearly 40 years ago, Vietnam has witnessed extraordinary development, marked by ambitious infrastructure projects and modern urban landscapes.

This story appears in the January 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine. “Past the hand of dog, watch out for dinosaurs,” says a voice in the dark. I recognize Jonathan Sims’s clipped ...

At the building’s base, layered platforms evoke the swirling rice terraces of northern Vietnam. Over halfway up Empire Tower 88, the tallest of the three skyscrapers at 333 metres, sits the Sky Forest ...