
I Keep My Connection to My Family's Hanoi Tết Traditions in a Tiny Quất Tree
I am not a plant person. So when even I notice the abundance of vườn kiểng — a place selling a myriad of plants — it must mean that Saigoneers truly love buying plants. Some of my friends, who are also Hanoians, asked me one day to visit these vườn kiểng and look for Tết plants: “Let’s celebrate Tết the way northerners do, you know?” And somehow, being amongst the plants brought me right back to Quảng Bá Flower Market in Tây Hồ.

How to Curate the Best Playlist to Listen to While Riding the Saigon Metro
When you get a new toy, it's only reasonable to take it out to play with as often as possible.

Đi Bão Is Vietnamese Culture at Its Most Jubilant, Raucous, and Fervent
Dustbins, tree branches, advertising stands and tarps, leftover Christmas decorations, whatever pot, pan, ladle or utensil left unattended in the family kitchen, and at least one street vendor’s bánh khọt mold: whatever wasn’t bolted down got caught up in the wave of đi bão that filled Saigon’s streets last night.

Life in Saigon's Old Tenements, the Remaining Vertical Villages of Past Decades
Is “out with the old, in with the new” the new motto when it comes to Saigon's real estate scene?

A Merry Memory of a Mid-2000s Middle-Class Christmas in Saigon
As my palm felt the glossy wrapping paper for my Secret Santa gift, I was transported to my early childhood Christmases — filled with warmth, wonder, and the bubbling discomfort of class insecurities.

Watching Snowfall in 'Home Alone' Is My Saigon Christmas Tradition
Christmas is so globally celebrated that even in Saigon, as the coldest time of the year approaches, you can hear Christmas hymms echoing from homes in the alley, and spot houses adorned with Christmas trees, Santas, snowmen, regardless of their cultural relevance to Vietnamese culture. For me, one of the activities that truly embodies this global spirit of Christmas is watching Home Alone (1990).

‘Công tử Bạc Liêu’ Asks: ‘What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery?’
They say you don’t buy a lottery ticket because you think you’ll win; you buy one so that you can fantasize about winning.

For Hội An Residents, Learning to Live With Floods Is a Fact of Life
The water reached my shoulders, and when I stepped into the street I suddenly felt the current trying to pull me into its invisible grasp. A familiar feeling that set off an alarm inside my head: “Be careful! It looks like nothing, but don’t get caught in it.”

How Saigon's Free Water Coolers Quench Thirst and Spread Kindness
In recent years, stories about climate change's impacts on the lives of Vietnamese people have been increasingly making the news.

From 'Freeze' to 'Avcngcrs': Inside the Wacky World of Vietnam's Bootleg Toys
In Vietnam, you can find a Lego set in official Lego stores or any big toy shops at high prices; but if you take a different route, you can find Lego sets being sold by small vendors for much cheaper....

In Suburban Hanoi, With Summer Comes the Red-Purple Cascade of Mulberries
In suburban Hanoi, this is the season when mulberry branches heavy with bright red fruits dangle in the summer wind.

New Renderings Show Saigon's Plans to Revamp Quách Thị Trang Square
At an estimated cost of VND157 billion (US$6.17 million), the controversial renovation work on the square in front of Bến Thành Market is set to begin this fall and be completed by April 2025.

Every Morning, I'm Grateful for My Carless Ride to Work on Hoàng Sa Street
In the decade-plus of Saigoneer’s existence, we’ve had six offices strewn across different parts of Districts 1 and 3. Over that period, my homes have been located in Bình Thạnh and Thảo Điền, requiri...

The Nhiêu Lộc-Thị Nghè Canal's Comeback Story
Water has no hometown.

Our Toxic Relationship With Saigon Traffic: A Diagnosis
There is no way to describe Saigon traffic literally and have it understood by someone who has not experienced it.

Sweating for a Good Cause at the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation Walk in Hanoi
I learnt of the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in my first year living in Hanoi, through friends that had worked for the fantastic organization, or that were regular donors supporting it. This year...

In the Mekong Delta, Ferries Are Childhood Friends and Daily Companions
The Mekong Delta is called Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long in Vietnamese — the Nine Dragons River, for the way the mighty Mekong splits into multiple strands as it nears its final destination, the East Sea.

Glide Over Hanoi in the Calmness of the Cát Linh-Hà Đông Metro Line
In many countries, urban metros are a mundane convenience — so ordinary that their users often take them for granted. But until the birth of Hanoi’s Cát Linh-Hà Đông Metro Line, residents of Vietnam h...

'Engaging With Vietnam' Conference Ruminates on Heritage in Huế
“Living with Heritage, (Re)Creating Heritage: Vietnam and the World” is the title of the 14th Engaging with Vietnam conference, a series of activities including academic panel discussions, keynote tal...

Vietnam Reports First-Ever Test-Taker Attaining 9.0 for All 4 IELTS Skills
As more institutions and enterprises in Vietnam adopt IELTS results as an official assessment of students' and employees’ grasp of the English language, high IELTS scores have gradually become a sough...

Pride Fest, Cambodia's Most Ambitious LGBT Event to Date, Is Coming This Week
On a steamy evening in downtown Phnom Penh, Rebecca Chan takes the stage. The crowd — mostly Cambodian millennials and Gen Z's — is riled up from previous performances, but Chan’s composure tames thei...

The Simple Pleasures of Kite-Flying in Thủ Thiêm
One of the most elegant means to observe the textured heft and untethered strength of otherwise-invisible wind — there is plenty one could say about the poetry of flying kites.

Summer 2023 Is the Hottest on Record in Vietnam Due to El Niño
While the past weeks have felt like living in a sauna for Saigoneers, north-central Vietnam provinces experienced even hotter temperatures this summer.

On Finding Flavors of Home in Takadanobaba, Tokyo's 'Vietnam Town'
A bánh mì stand to the left, signs for Bích Karaoke above an alley across the street, an open shopfront lined with bottles of Chin-Su chili sauce and G7 coffee sachets, a laid back restaurant where wa...

Plan to Put Canopy Over Treeless Lê Lợi Pavement Sparks Debate
Late last week, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture unveiled a proposal to install canopies across Lê Lợi Boulevard’s pavement.

Vignette: For Cafe 81 and the '404 Not Found' Places of Our Lives
We all have them.

Ở đó ở đây Sài Gòn — A Love-Hate Letter to the Maze of Paradoxes
Editor's note: Adrien Jean is a Saigon-based photographer and a frequent contributor to Saigoneer's Darkroom series. His photos often depict the precise moments in time when the visual elements of our...

Inside the Sawdust Alley in D8 Where Old Furniture Goes to Get Repurposed
My lungs began to heave with raspy coughs as I ventured deeper into the alley of 124 Phạm Thế Hiển.