Khôi Phạm

in Culture

What Can Vietnamese License Plates Tell You About the Vehicles and Who Drives Them?

There was a game I used to play with my dad whenever we would stop at a traffic light. He would point to a random license plate in front of us and quiz me on where it came from.

in Travel

Mũi Né Among Top 10 Trending Travel Destinations Globally in 2026, Booking Says

Travel site Booking.com dubbed Mũi Né “one of 2026’s trending travel spots,” reflective of the international attention and domestic emphasis the beach city is currently receiving.

in Music & Arts

Euphoria, Ruin, Nostalgia: Tracing Hanoi's Changing Skyline by Its Soundtrack

From loudspeakers broadcasting construction anthems during wartime to melancholic ballads mourning vanished street corners, Hanoi's soundtrack reveals a city that has never quite learned to live in its present tense.

Paul Christiansen

in Rewind

In 'Cú Và Chim Se Sẻ,' a Director's Radical Empathy for Saigon's Less Fortunate

“They can do what they want. The city owns the zoo. They could sell all the animals here. They could turn it into a golf course. We’re just little people — you and me.”

in Loạt Soạt

In 'No Man River,' Dương Hướng Highlights the Raw Pain of Postwar Survival

Dương Hướng’s No Man River (Bến không chồng) was first published in 1991 and won the Vietnam Writers' Association Prize for Fiction. Translated into English by Quan Manh Ha and Charles Waugh, it captures the brutal reality of conflict in Vietnam from 1945 to 1979.

in Music & Arts

Nguyễn Đức Tín Weaves Spirituality, Faith, Everyday Life Altogether in His Paintings

Can a painting reflect who we are, even if we can’t see ourselves thoroughly? And how does faith guide us forward in life?

in Film & TV

Liên Bỉnh Phát Makes History as 1st Vietnamese to Win Best Male Lead in Taiwan

Vietnamese actor Liên Bỉnh Phát recently made history at one of Taiwan’s most prestigious national award ceremonies.

in Travel

An Ode to Vũng Tàu, Saigon's Unwavering Summer Crush

I recently took a trip to Vũng Tàu after a long summer of cultural research, which had me traveling up and down Vietnam. It had been seven years since I’d been back to the homeland, and 19 since I’d last seen the beaches of Vũng Tàu, when I was only 16. It felt like returning to a high school crush, and it made me think of the words of Trần Thiện Thanh, who once wrote, “Nhớ lúc xa xưa mười sáu trăng tròn…” I won’t say I wasn’t looking for something familiar, poetic, and possibly even as sappy.

Back Arts & Culture

in Film & TV

January Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues

International cinema in 2014 was marked not only by a number of solid films, but also by exceptional performances. With ‘award season’ in full swing, Saigon’s alternative film venues have lined up a n...

in Music & Arts

Behind The Curtain: Standpoint Theories

Brimming with creative ideas, the multi-disciplinary Standpoint Theories, which first made an appearance last year at Cargo Bar, will grace Saigon once more for three days in January.

in Arts & Culture

Saigoneer’s 10 Most Popular Stories Of 2014

As the calendar is set to flip to 2015, we’ve put together a list of Saigoneer’s most popular stories from 2014. 

in Culture

Left For Dead, Vietnam’s First Restored Steam Locomotive Makes Miraculous Return

After an 18-year absence from Vietnam’s tracks, it looks like steam locomotives are making a comeback.

in Culture

15 Amazing Moments Captured On Vietnam’s Streets

In Vietnamese cities, streets are where life happens. With few parks available to the country’s urban masses, they serve as everything from entertainment venues to wedding halls to restaurants. They a...

in Arts & Culture

Saigoneer Sunday Rewind

Saigoneer's staff highlights their favorite articles from the past week.

in Culture

Plus-Size Woman Sends Her Photos To Editors Across The Globe, Photoshop Hilarity Ensues

Back in June, an American blogger Esther Honig sent her photo to editors around the globe to be photoshopped. She found that each country (including Vietnam) projected their own cultural values and st...

in Music & Arts

These 8 Saigon Christmas Cinemagraphs Will Get You In The Christmas Spirit

Whether you enjoy Saigon’s frenetic Christmas energy or not, it’s impossible to escape the twinkling light shows in the city’s alleys, Santa impersonators and tinfoil snow.

in Music & Arts

All In: Vietnamese Artists Put A Beautiful Twist On Playing Cards

With an obsession for peace signs, adoration for the hippie lifestyle and an open mind, two young artists, Đinh Công Thành and Ngô Đình Lệ Thuỷ, have started a creative project called “Bài Ta” (Vietna...

in Music & Arts

Saigon Xưa: Young Artist Makes Incredible Drawings to Show Love of Old Saigon

Although born in Ninh Thuan province, Le Hung Trong has grown intimately attached to his second home, Saigon. Working as an architect for past three years, he has put together a collection of drawings...

in Culture

OMG: Use Of Online Acronyms By Vietnamese Youth Blurs Linguistic Lines

Across the globe, the internet has brought about new ways of thinking, interacting and communicating. The latter has been a cause of concern for some in Vietnam who worry about the impact of popular i...

in Culture

[Video] Pro Skateboarders Make an Epic Vietnam Road Trip

Back in 2012, Skateboarder Magazine sent a group of pro skaters on a motorbike journey from Hanoi to HCMC in a quest to find unseen skate spots throughout the country.

in Music & Arts

[Photos] Vietnam Through The Lens Of A Leica

There’s little doubt that Vietnam is one of the World’s most photogenic countries. No matter what camera one uses, you’re bound to have at least a few gems on your film roll or memory card. But what h...

in Culture

A Look At The Top Google Searches In Vietnam In 2014

On Tuesday, Google released its annual “A Year in Search” showing the most popular searches of the last year. To make it a bit more accessible, the search engine released localized versions in additio...

in Music & Arts

4 Awesome Animated Gifs Of Sleeping Saigon Cyclo Drivers

Maria Tran Larsen, a graphic designer with Vietnamese roots living in Copenhagen, Denmark has always been entranced by the sleeping cyclo drivers she came across on her trips to Vietnam.

in Music & Arts

Rolling The Dice With Old Saigon Monopoly

There’s something about inspired design mixed with nostalgia that always pulls on the heartstrings. We recently got wind of an old Saigon inspired game of Monopoly designed right here in Saigon.

in Music & Arts

Incredible Pointillism Pieces Show The Faces Of Vietnam

Out of all the many art forms, pointillism is one of the most impressive. Artists in this medium use millions of individual dots to compose their masterpieces that are packed with incredible detail.

in Arts & Culture

Saigoneer Sunday Rewind

Saigoneer's staff highlights their favorite articles from the past week.

in Music & Arts

[Photos] An Illustrated Guide to Vietnamese Motorbikers, Part 2

After we published the first edition of “An Illustrated Guide To Vietnamese Motorbikers,” we received an abundance of requests from users on Facebook, Twitter and a number of Vietnamese social network...

in Music & Arts

Artist Spotlight: Tonstartssbandht

Tonstartssbandht is one of those bands which occupy that very rare dimension in music defying categorization. Psychedelic-rock, pastoral vocals, pop undertones, rock-n-roll and lo-fi are all terms tha...