Xuân Phương in Hanoi
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.
After Saigon Police Bust Major Pet Theft Ring, the City Rallies to Help Care for 400 Cats
After an extended investigation, the Hồ Chí Minh City Police Department has busted a major cat theft and distribution ring that operated across multiple southern provinces.
A Visit to Lê Minh Xuân, a Rare Craft Village Making Incense Sticks Amid Saigon
From inside the workshop, artisans carry bundle after bundle of freshly made incense sticks into the courtyard amid the morning mist. A gentle scent of spices linger in the air.
As Thanh Đa Faces Redevelopment, Writer Dạ Ngân Reflects on What Will Be Lost
To me, my trip to Cư xá Thanh Đa in summer 1982 was a serendipitous encounter. It was Saigon’s largest-scale residential complex in the first half of the 1970s, with nearly 4,000 separate units housing about 50,000 inhabitants. Cư xá refers to a residential quarter reserved for gainfully employed citizens, with a vision to establish a model community with a high quality of life. Here, in their three-bedroom apartments, civil servants, professors, doctors, and military leaders ranked major or higher lived in pride of being a part of a cư xá like that.
Uyên Đỗ in Saigon
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.
Inside the Covid Memorial Park at 1 Lý Thái Tổ, Saigon's Brand-New Green Space
As part of Saigon’s latest initiative to increase green space coverage in the city, a number of abandoned land plots were converted into public parks, including a Covid Memorial Park that’s become a beloved destination for Saigoneers seeking a space to jog, reflect, or just simply touch grass.
Uyên Đỗ in Saigon
All Aboard Bus 146, Home of Plushies, Rubber Chickens and a Side of Humanity
“Cute” doesn’t seem like a fitting descriptor for any mode of public transport, but a bus in Saigon is driving straight into the heart of Saigoneers for being the quintessence of “smotheringly adorable.”
Saigon Set to Make Bus Service Free for All to Cut Congestion, Air Pollution
Saigoneers without private vehicles might be happy to hear that the city is planning to make the municipal bus system free to ride in the near future.
Weekend News Roundup: Cops Seize A Ton Of Marijuana Growing In Southern Vietnam
Robotic engineering course launched in primary schools [SGGP] Vietnamese tea industry sees recovery brewing [Nhan Dan] Deforestation continues to deplete nation's wealth [Vietnam Net]
Temperatures In Saigon Reach 21-Year Low?
If you’re a Hanoi native, you’ve probably felt right at home on your commute to work in recent days.
Japan Announces Plans to Build Mind-Blowing Underwater City
A Japanese architecture firm, Shimizu, has revealed its plans to build an underwater city that could be finished as early as 2035. The spherical underwater structure, dubbed the Ocean Spiral, is slate...
Morning News Roundup: Auto Manufacturers Worried About HCMC’s Proposed Restrictions On Cars
WB keeps Vietnam’s GDP growth at 5.6% in 2015 [Tuoi Tre] Vietnam airliner makes emergency landing as Chinese baby develops convulsions [Tuoi Tre] Schools ordered to check students' medical hist...
Morning News Roundup: Separate Jails Proposed For Transgender, Gay Prisoners
Vietnam plans for transport restructuring by 2020 [Vietnam Net] Investigation team on collapsed tunnel in Lam Dong set up [Vietnam Plus] Power group continues proposing power price increase [SG...
Hong Kong Man Detained After Strapping 94 iPhones To His Body
In the grand scheme of things, smuggling electronics is a less risky proposition than say, drugs, but that doesn’t mean it’s an act without consequences as one Hong Kong man learned the hard way.
Morning News Roundup: Vietnam Airlines Attempts To Bar Striking Pilots From Working For Other Carriers
Changes to area code, digital prefixes to happen in phases [Vietnam Plus] Ha Noi air traffic control centre begins operations [Vietnam News] Samsung requests $15.5 mil tax break to start HCMC factor...
Restaurateur Arrested for Buying Stolen Dogs in Southern Vietnam
Police in Binh Duong Province, just outside of Saigon, arrested a man last Thursday when he was pulled over with 10 dead dogs stacked on the back of his motorbike.
Morning News Roundup: HCMC To Offer Downtown Electric Bus Tour For $1
Rough waves destroy homes in central Vietnam [Tuoi Tre] Vietnam’s Got Talent contestant drinks acid by mistake [DTI News] HCM City to add more 23 CNG buses [SGGP]
$14 Million Approved For Restoration Of Hanoi’s 112-Year-Old Long Biên Bridge
The fate of one of Vietnam’s most beloved and storied structures took another positive turn last week when the government approved a $14 million restoration package for Long Biên Bridge.
Saigon Post Office To Be Repainted Yet Again Following Complaints
Following public outcry and criticism from street vendors, historians, artists and tourists, Saigon Central Post Office officials have announced that they will repaint the iconic building after consul...
Weekend News Roundup: HCMC's Underground Parking Lot Plan Appears To Implode
Foreign banks look local for CEOs [Vietnam Net] MobiFone to offer 2 million new 10-digit numbers [Vietnam Plus] Unemployment rate projected to rise in HCM City [Vietnam Plus]
HCMC Seeks To Set Limits On Cars, Motorbikes
To combat the mind-numbingly horrible gridlock and worsening pollution in the city, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation is seeking the government’s approval to limit the flow of personal...
Repair Date Set For Vietnam’s Undersea Internet Cable
The operator of the Asia America Gateway cable has announced that repairs will be completed on January 23.
Major Changes Announced For Vietnamese Phone Numbers
On March 1, Vietnam will change up the area codes of 59 provinces and restrict mobile phone numbers to 10 digits.
Morning News Roundup: HCMC Cabbie Returns $11,600 Vertu Phone To Passenger
Vietnam upholds life sentence in largest-ever white collar case [Thanh Nien] Vietnamese-American wins $46,700 claim against eye hospital [Tuoi Tre] Cabbie in Vietnam metropolis returns $11,600 Vertu...
Vietnamese Taxi Companies Finally Drop Fares As Fuel Prices Plummet
After government pressure, Vietnam’s taxi companies have announced that they will lower their fares to bring them inline with plummeting global oil prices.
Are Sharks to Blame for Vietnam’s Broken Internet Cable?
In the many breaks that have occurred along the Asia America Gateway internet cable since it went online in 2009, Vietnamese telecoms have been unable to determine the culprit. According to The Indepe...
Masterchef Christine Ha Is Eating And Drinking Her Way Through Saigon
Vietnamese-American Masterchef, Christine Ha, is back in Saigon and seems to be eating and drinking her way through the city.
Morning News Roundup: Vietnam Spends $1.57 Bln On Foreign-Made Cars In 2014, Highest Rate Ever
Vietnam expects to manufacture 200,000 automobiles in 2015 [DTI News] Hanoi aims at green, clean 2015 [Vietnam Plus] City streets named Vietnamese talent artists [SGGP]
