in Film & TV

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 In Plain Sight

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.

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.

in Travel

Vietnam Airlines Sells VND14bn Worth of Inflight Bubble Tea Last Year

Gone were the days of brackish peanuts and lukewarm apple juice, today’s flyers can satiate their sugar cravings right in the air.

Back Arts & Culture

in Culture

Report: Number of Rich Saigonese set to Triple by 2023

According to global real estate company, Knight Frank, the number of ultra-rich Saigonese is set to triple over the next 10 years, reports Shanghai Daily.

in Culture

Green Drinks - Air Conditioning - the Case for Re-Engineering for a Greener World

From the organizer: Green Drinks is back in town. Join us to meet Xavier Pinchart to explore why classical air conditioning is a total nonsense when faced to energetic challenges.

in Culture

Interview With the Organizers of the 'Neighbors' Gay Party

Neighbors is a monthly event, a Facebook community, and a group of volunteers. It is where Saigon’s gay community gathers to connect and expand business networks, furthers careers, and stay current wi...

in Culture

Neighbors Gay Networking Party @ OMG!

From the organizer: Neighbors is a monthly gay event, Facebook community, and group of volunteers. It is where Saigon’s gay community gathers to connect and expand business networks, furthers caree...

in Music & Arts

Saigon Artist Spotlight: Jack Clayton

Jack Clayton is an artist from East London who has spent the last four years travelling. His inspiration for his art work is drawn from his experiences around the world and a representation of his env...

in Music & Arts

Saigon Sound: Daedelus

We caught up with Daedelus after he played to an enthusiastic crowd in Saigon in January. Surprisingly, there was a stark difference between his studio work, as stated earlier in his interview wi...

in Culture

[Video] Mesmerizing Saigon Tilt Shift Time Lapse

We sure love our Saigon time lapse videos. For a frenetic city like ours, these cinematic pieces are able capture its energy, perhaps more than any other medium. We recently stumbled upon this video, ...

in Music & Arts

The Story Behind the Melting Pot Festival

Last weekend, the Melting Pot successfully celebrated its 4th event as well as its 1st anniversary with art exhibitions and a line-up of musicians and DJs, proving that there is a Saigonese’s experime...

in Culture

Slideshow: 11 of the First Color Pictures Ever Taken in Vietnam

From 1914 - 1917 Leon Busy (1874-1950), a French officer serving in Indochina, was assigned by the Albert Kahn Museum in France to capture the lives of the people in northern Vietnam.

in Culture

Vietnam’s Big Casino Plans Hinge on Locals Being Allowed to Gamble

While Saigon and Hanoi are home to a number of casinos, it is illegal for Vietnamese to roll the dice in their country. Plans for large-scale casinos have been in the works for years but until locals ...

Brian Letwin

in Music & Arts

Culture on 3 Wheels: Artsy 7-Story Tricycle Making its Way Around Hanoi

There are few things that surprise us in Vietnam these days – a gaggle of geese draped from a motorbike, electricity workers on precarious ladders, hell, even a volcanoes sprouting from the streets. B...

in Culture

Video: Watch Prince William ‘Speak’ Vietnamese

Last week, Prince Charles and Prince William recorded a video with the BBC to encourage an end to the illegal wildlife trade. In an effort to spread the message to the world, the pair translated the s...

in Music & Arts

Saigon Soul - Pool Parties

Looking to cool off from the Saigon heat while relaxing and listening to some chill tunes? Then check out the weekly Saigon Soul pool party held at the rooftop pool of the New World Hotel, every satur...

in Culture

Press Roundup: McDonald's Opens in Saigon

Since just about every major news agency has covered last Saturday’s McDonalds Saigon launch, we thought that, rather than rehashing the same story, we’d make a roundup of articles from the forei...

in Music & Arts

Artist Spotlight: Kristopher Kotcher

A child's imagination is pure, unpretentious, unique and unconcerned with other people's judgements or views. As we get older most of us tend to loose these qualities, often because there is an untold...

in Culture

Infographic: The Most Popular Vietnamese Surnames

As Australia knows firsthand, the Nguyen surname is the most common among Vietnamese. But how does it stack up against others like Trấn, Lê and Phạm? One Vietnam put together a nifty infographic ...

in Music & Arts

Artist Spotlight: Yanneth Albornoz

There are very few people that you encounter accidentally in your lifetime with whom you can strike a spontaneous four hour conversation as if you have known each other for a very long time. Usually w...

in Music & Arts

Artist Spotlight: Landon Nguyen

18-year-old Saigon native, Landon Nguyen is an aspiring artist living in California. Though he has been a creative-type all his life, it wasn’t till he moved to the US that he realized his artistic po...

in Culture

Tết Tây

Western New Year passed us by, towing an old sensation in its wake. It was a strange celebration, or if not completely strange then slightly out of joint. The Ball was stationary, and around its would...

in Music & Arts

Audio: Vietnam's Reggae Revelation

It may be played on repeat in tourist bars across Vietnam (and much of SE Asia) but reggae music has yet get traction in the local market. Hanoi-based journalist, Marianne Brown recently tal...