Contemporary Hip-Hop Dance '129BPM' to Perform at Art Festival in Malaysia in August
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- Published on 24 July 2025
- Written by Saigoneer.
After two successful nights in Saigon last year, a mesmerizing contemporary hip-hop dance performance is bringing its raw energy abroad.
Visit a 160-Year-Old Chapel Inside Saigon's Historic St. Joseph's Seminary
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- Published on 23 July 2025
- Written by Tuyết Nhi. Photos by Alberto Prieto.
Hidden within the compound of the Saigon St. Joseph’s Seminary is a historic chapel that has withstood the test of time.
The Surprising Japanese Origin Behind the Vietnamese Term 'Ô Sin'
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- Published on 21 July 2025
- Written by Khôi Phạm.
It’s not uncommon to come across words in everyday conversations that have roots in the French language. Albeit less frequently, a handful of Russian and English loan words have also made their way into our lives at times, but for a term of Japanese origin to have taken root deep in the collective psyche of Vietnamese, that’s rare.
There's a Cordial Vietnamese Greeting That Has Been Floating in Space Since 1977
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- Published on 18 July 2025
- Written by Uyên Đỗ.
At this very moment, while you're reading these lines, a silver “bird” of human design is hurtling away from the Sun at roughly 60,000 kilometers per hour, slipping past the boundaries of our solar cradle and into the endless quiet of the cosmos.
Feel the Pulse of a Fast-Changing Vietnam in the 1990s via This Lively Photo Album
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- Published on 18 July 2025
- Written by Saigoneer.
By the mid-1990's, Vietnam's astounding economic transformation was well underway.
Remembering Thuy Trang, the First Vietnamese Power Ranger
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- Published on 17 July 2025
- Written by Khôi Phạm. Graphic by Mai Khanh.
It was the late 1990s, and I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror of our childhood home, holding my dad’s solid-metal belt buckle up with a pseudo-serious expression on my baby face. Fortunately, I wasn’t doing a YouTuber-style makeup review, but was in fact mirroring the transformation sequence of my favorite TV idols, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
How a Self-Taught Documentarian Spreads His Boundless Enthusiasm for Vietnam's Nature
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- Published on 16 July 2025
- Written by Paul Christiansen. Photos by Dính Nguyễn. Top graphic by Ngàn Mai.
Why “Sticky Discovery”? This was the first question I asked during my interview with the man behind the YouTube series of nature documentaries. His name is Dính, given by his paternal grandmother because after Dính’s mother had two miscarriages, she’d hoped Dính (meaning “sticky” in English), would stay put.
In 'Vietnam Retropunk,' a Young Illustrator Dreams of a Cyberpunk Hanoi
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- Published on 15 July 2025
- Written by Phạm Thục Khuê. Illustrations by Đặng Thái Tuấn. Top graphic by Trường Dĩ.
To Đặng Thái Tuấn, the talent behind illustration project “Vietnam Retropunk,” whimsical depictions of robots and animatronics sprouting out from everyday objects and activities embody the space in between the ancient and the futuristic.
A Story of Personal, Political Reckoning in a Singaporean Writer's Fictional Wartime Vietnam
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- Published on 14 July 2025
- Written by Tuệ Đinh.
The Immolation first came to me as a bewildering surprise: at a now-relocated bookshop in Singapore, the book caught the eyes of the 17-year-old me. It was not so much the cover’s pale blue background, or the expression of ennui on the author’s post-impressionist portrait, but rather its dealing with the American War. After all, the title directly referenced the iconic protest by the Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức, who set himself on fire on the street of Saigon.
Street Cred: Dauntless Antiwar Icon Nguyễn Thái Bình and His Tragic Death
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- Published on 11 July 2025
- Written by Saigoneer. Illustration by Hannah Hoàng.
If one were to see the streets of Vietnam as a tangled network of people whose names they took, every city would resemble a messy collection of historical fragments.
Hẻm Gems: Chè Lâm Vinh Mậu Anchors the Last Remaining Hoa Vestiges of D1
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- Published on 09 July 2025
- Written by Tuệ Đinh. Photos by Jimmy Art Devier.
Whenever I come back to Vietnam, it is a personal ritual of mine to visit locales of the past. As clichéd as it sounds, as I have been abroad in Singapore for six years, returning to Vietnam is almost synonymous with returning to places that once shaped my past selves, whose presence has been fading in my mind.
In a D7 Residence, Natural Wood Textures Hark Back to Vietnam's Traditional Homes
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- Published on 09 July 2025
- Written by Saigoneer.
During a new decade when architecture projects in Vietnam are increasingly looking towards the future and influences outside the national boundaries for inspirations, Memories House decided to do the opposite by integrating old heirloom furniture and elements from the past into the living space.
Tà Năng, One of Vietnam’s Most Beautiful Trails and Best-Kept Secrets
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- Published on 07 July 2025
- Written by Alicia Moran. Photos by Alberto Prieto.
Whether we choose to participate or not, most of us are fascinated by Vietnam’s motorbike culture.
Under the Sky, Above the Water: Into the Heat at Ninh Thuận's Salt Fields
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- Published on 06 July 2025
- Written by Xuân Phương. Photos by Xuân Phương.
A 3,000-kilometer coastline is one of nature’s best gifts to Vietnam, bringing about not just ample seafood, but also a motherlode of sea salt.
A Tale of Three Chè Bột Lọc Heo Quay, Central Vietnam's Unique Savory Dessert
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- Published on 05 July 2025
- Written by Khôi Phạm. Top graphic by Ngàn Mai.
Why am I so obsessed with chè bột lọc heo quay?
Searching for the World's Largest Woodpecker Species in Yok Đôn National Park
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- Published on 04 July 2025
- Written by Alexander Yates. Top image by Hannah Hoàng.
You first know she’s approaching by the sound of her wings; her broad shadow flashing across the forest floor. Even from far below, her body looks enormous. At half a meter long, she is roughly five times the size of the woodpeckers seen in the gardens of Europe or North America. She is the largest woodpecker left in the world, and the jewel of Yok Đôn National Park.
Enter the Dreamy Tales Told by the Works of Young Illustrator Thố Đầu • Hổ Vĩ
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- Published on 02 July 2025
- Written by Paul Christiansen.
Being born at the cusp of the Year of the Rabbit (cat) and the Year of the Tiger offers the literal meaning for Hoàng Phúc's artist name, thố đầu • hổ vĩ, but he hopes it carries a metaphorical one, as well: “a humble beginning but a positive end,” he explained to Saigoneer. thố đầu • hổ vĩ’s origins may be humble — he started seriously focusing on illustrations just four years ago when he started university — but he has already reached remarkable achievements, as evidenced by three projects he shared with us.
Street Cred: Pháo Đài Láng, Home of Ông Voi and Where the War Began
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- Published on 01 July 2025
- Written by Linh Phạm. Top image by Bu.
More often than not, a country’s independence is won with guns. The location where the first shots were fired for Vietnam is memorialized to this day.
Ngõ Nooks: Bodacious Bún Riêu Ốc Bò at Hanoi's 25-Year-Old Bún Bình Huyền
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- Published on 30 June 2025
- Written by Xuân Phương. Photos by Xuân Phương.
On the transient days when Hanoi’s weather morphs from winter to summer, the monsoon winds carry with them the drizzles of an in-between time. This cool climate evokes within me a yearning for some warm steam from boiling vats of soup stock, so on a rare chilly morning, I wandered around and stopped by Triệu Việt Vương Street for a distinctly morning treat in Hanoi.
Bask in the Morning Sun in the Green Heart of Huế Along the Hương River
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- Published on 28 June 2025
- Written by Khôi Phạm. Photos by Khôi Phạm.
As tourists, it's in our built-in compass to seek out novelties and excitements, if anything, to remind us that our daily humdrum is not everything, and there exists a world out there with multitudes to explore.
