Paul Christiansen in Music & Arts
Art Exhibition 'Ngẫu Biến' Invites Viewers to Find Their Own Meaning
“When you write, you go inside yourself, when you paint, you go outside,” said poet and painter ng. anhan.
Filmmakers Trần Anh Hùng, Phạm Thiên Ân Win Awards at Cannes Film Festival
At the 76th Cannes International Film Festival, Phạm Thiên Ân's Bên trong vỏ kén vàng (Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell) was awarded the Camera D'or while Vietnamese-born French filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng won the best director prize for The Pot-au-Feu.
In Hanoi, the Vietnam Museum of Nature Is an Inquisitive Child's Heaven
Amidst the dull, grey buildings of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, a giant dinosaur model stands out. The T-Rex was guarding the entrance to the Vietnam National Museum of Nature (Bảo tàng Thiên nhiên Việt Nam), and as I approached it I felt a sense of childlike wonder wash over me. I thought I would learn much about Vietnam’s natural history; I was wrong.
La Petite Ecole’s French Curriculum Benefits Families Well Beyond Saigon’s French Community
“When you learn a language, you don’t just learn the language, you learn new attitudes, ways of thinking, culture and history,” explains Aline Nguyen, the Principal of La Petite Ecole Ho Chi Minh.
Khôi Phạm in Film & TV
Review: Wow! This Brochure for Vietnam Tourism Has a Plot and a Romance.
I was prepared to hate A Tourist’s Guide to Love on sight. As a movie setting, Vietnam has been burned by foreign productions one too many times, so I often find myself dry-heaving whenever any international project announces its intention of portraying Vietnam on screen.
Paul Christiansen in In Plain Sight
An Ode to Saigon’s Chò Nâu Trees
It’s too cold for chò nâu to grow where I’m from, but we still gave it an English name: dipterocarp.
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
A Memoir Ruminates on Saigon in the Now and via Childhood Memories
Born in Saigon in 1977, Tuan Phan and his parents left for America via boat in 1986. Remembering Water includes depictions of the voyage including lengthy stops in refugee camps followed by acclimation to a new country and culture. It articulates struggles of exile and assimilation similar to many other diaspora experiences, but his story is unique because Tuan returns to live in Saigon as an adult and encounters a place significantly different from his childhood recollections. The memoir concerns itself not just with the changing city and his relationship with it, but also with more illusive ideas regarding the fallibility of memory and if one can feel more at home in the past than the present.
What Leadership Means to Walter Power, Grand Ho Tram’s CEO
While Vietnam has resorts of every kind, one particular property’s dizzying array of offerings and guest profiles may make you wonder: “How does this all work?” The Grand Ho Tram works in large part due to the leadership of its CEO, Walter Power.
Brian Letwin in Culture
[Photos] Vietnamese Motorbikes and the Things They Carry
With more than 37 million of them, Vietnam is truly the land of the motorbike (for now). As we see on a daily basis, they’re not only the preferred method of transportation for people, but also for th...
Brian Letwin in Culture
Ancient Village Regulations Uncovered in Hoi An
A 19th century draft of village rules and regulations has been discovered by a Vietnamese historian in Hoi An, the first of its kind, reports Vietnam News.
Event Rewind: Postiljonen
Last Sunday, Stockholm ‘dream pop’ trio, Postiljonen, swung by La Fenetre Soleil as part of their Asian tour.
Brian Letwin in Culture
[Video] Teaser: The Banditas of Hoi An
To avoid a dark complexion, many Vietnamese women wear body-encompassing garb when out about town. Some call them ‘ninjas’ and others ‘mummies.’ Sydney-based filmmaker, Kearon de Clouet, recently trav...
Event Rewind: The Saigon Projects 5 Year Anniversary Party
There may have been a mixture of complexions and languages, but the crowd at The Saigon Projects 5 year anniversary party shared one love for the growth of graffiti art and underground hiphop in ...
Vietnam's Fading Black Smile
Contrasting black and white is not a modern aesthetic. For a long time, it was a standard of grace for Vietnamese women for whom traditional beauty was judged by “white skin, black teeth.”
Brian Letwin in Culture
Made in Vietnam: Electric Chopper Bicycles
Looking to step up your bicycle game? Two mechanics in Nam Dinh Province have made their own electric chopper bicycle and the final product could only be described as baller.
Fashion Show: A Midsummer Night's Dream @ OMG
This Thursday, Studio co will host a new fashion show - A Midsummer Night's Dream- featuring garments, jewellery and accessorise from its multi-cultural group of creative minds including La ...
deciBel 2 Year Anniversary Party
It's finally time to celebrate our 2 years anniversary. 2 years of Music, Art, Cinema, drunk dance moves, yummy food and freaky meetings. deciBel wants to thank you guys for making this bar so awesom...
Saigon Urban Legends: The Ghost of the Fine Arts Museum
The Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts Museum, an ornate, colonial-era building at 97 Pho Duc Chinh, District 1 stands elegantly and quietly in the less-traveled area of District 1. Beyond housing some of the...
Brian Letwin in Culture
Teaser: Meet the Nguyễn's - Part 2
After moving to Vietnam, Richie Humphrey, in an attempt to improve his Vietnamese, started a video blog where he posted short, comedic videos. Last year, the Los Angeles, California native released a ...
Book Box Vietnam: Encouraging People to Spread and Share the Written Word
Inspired by the Little Free Library project, a group of young Saigon residents has launched a book exchange project called Book Box – placing little boxes of free books in public places.
Vietnamese Traffic Patterns Explained in One 'Simple' Image
This image explains Vietnamese traffic patterns better than words ever could.
Rock Paper Scissors Tournament @ Saigon Outcast
From the orgnaizer: There’s nothing that rivals a rock paper scissors tournament for excitement and tension. And fans of such contests are in for a treat at the SGOC's Rock Paper Scissors Tournament. ...
Event Rewind: Saigon Artbook Edition 3
After two extremely successful (and packed) releases of the Saigon Artbook, the team decided to launch the third edition over 2 days at the new exhibition space, Lê Công Kiều Station.
[Slideshow] 13 Beautiful Fields in Vietnam
Vietnam offers a wide array of natural beauty, leaving photographers with their fingers glued to their camera’s shutter release. While there are plenty of mountains and coastal scenes to photograph bu...
[Video] Vietnamese Grannies Get Down to Techno
“Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.”― Gloria Steinem
3A Station: Saigon’s Answer to Zone 9?
There is a new area in Saigon, closed off to motorbikes, where artists and creative minds from different disciplines as well as businesses come together. This is the idea sketched out so far behind th...
[Slideshow] The Giant Rubber Duck has Arrived in HCMC
Yesterday, we waddled down to District 7’s Crescent Lake to check out the newly installed giant duck and found quite a scene.
Camping: Into the Wild @ Saigon Outcast
Ready to do a little camping? Then make your way over to Saigon Outcast next weekend and enjoy: a bon fire, a BBQ, s'mores, acoustic guitar, a pyjamas party, ghost stories, camp fire songs, games...
