
Amid a Resort, This Thatched Hut Houses a Zero-Waste Water-Bottling Plant
A humble production hut built with recycled bottles, local timber, thatched roof and simple granito concrete floors is used as a bottling facility for drinking water.

Thanh Long: How Dragon Fruit Proves Beauty Is Only Skin-Deep
Of all my accomplishments in life, my greatest may be the creation of The Banana Line. This is a ranking tool, based on the belief that if all fruits were lined up from worst to best, taking into account taste, availability, price, consistency, portability, ease of consumption, versatility, etc., the banana would represent the exact middle; the precise median. The dragon fruit (thanh long) falls well, well below the banana line.

[Photos] Katinat Cafe's Gò Vấp Location Is an Industrial Glass Fortress
Cement, air, water, sand, and gravel: concrete is a simple material. Same for glass, that spread of super-heated quartz sand.

The Nocturnal Thrill of Capturing Vietnam's Elegant Fauna in Wildlife Photography
For most people, walking in the jungle at night would sound like a bad idea. A lack of knowledge and many misbeliefs, un...

The Mekong Delta Loses Sand Too Fast Due to Extraction, It's Time for a Sand Budget.
Many people will be familiar with the dread when your income no longer covers your expenses; when you’ve exhausted your savings and are sinking ever deeper into debt. In the Mekong Delta, a similar downward spiral is happening. But it’s not the delta’s finances that are draining away — it’s the sand that sustains it. Not its economic stability that is being undermined, but its very foundations.

How Going Digital Could Help Vietnam's Farmers Take Their Produce to the Next Level
In this digital age, farming, especially in developing countries like Vietnam, has maintained a general perception of being an analog, hands-on practice.

For Trans Vietnamese, Healthcare Providers Are Respectful, but Red Tape Still Hurts
Vietnam has been increasingly progressive in protecting and promoting LGBT rights. In November 2015, Vietnam made a big milestone when it granted individuals who have changed their gender the right to apply for a change of civil status affairs, and at the same time set forth the right to legal gender recognition for transgender people. Not only that, Vietnam has removed the ban on same-sex marriage since 2013, and legalized gay people serving in the military since 1992.

On a Hill in Huế, a Glass-Filled Home Welcomes Natural Light With Open Arms
Are hills simply mountains that lack ambition?

Report: The Saigon River Is Dying
A recent report found that the Saigon River, the city’s most important waterway, is severely contaminated and urgent steps must be taken to save it. Given the almost daily stories of untreated human w...

Vietnam Ponders Ban on Motorbikes in Large Cities
Vietnam may be the land of motorbikes but some government officials have put forth a plan to ban them in the country’s urban areas to increase safety and reduce pollution. While the plan is being prai...

Can Saigon Stop Sinking?
While this season’s heavy flooding has been blamed on large storms and high tides, some experts have been pointing to unchecked urbanization as the culprit. A recent Thanh Nien article took a closer l...

Saigon to Add 11 New Piers to Spur Waterway Development
Saigon seems to stepping up its waterway development game. After cleaning and refurbishing large swaths of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, the city has just announced plans for 11 new piers to be built ...

$110m Pledged for Vietnamese Startups
It looks like Vietnamese startups are about to get a boost in funding. The Ministry of Science and Technology has announced a $110 million program called FIRST, designed to breathe financial life into...

Vietnam Urged to Plan for Climate Change
Vietnam must develop more climate-resilient cities and implement policies that will limit the impact of extreme weather on urban communities, according to three studies presented at last month’s Vietn...

A Complete Map of the HCMC Metro System
Saigon's first metro line may be under construction and its 5th line fully funded, but it's often hard to grasp what things will look like when all 6 are complete.

As Domestic Demand Falls, Vietnam’s Motorbike Producers Look to New Markets
Even though Vietnam is the land of motorbikes, a struggling economy and market saturation have resulted in drop in domestic sales. As motorbike manufacturers expand their production facilities in Viet...

4K Turkey Dash For the Orphans @ The Crescent
On November 17, come down to the Crescent to join Transcend People’s 4k Turkey Dash for the Orphans and Operation Smile in Vietnam.

Report: Vietnam in Top 10 for Worst Air Pollution
Break out the face masks - Vietnam is in the top ten countries with the worst air pollution in the world. The ranking comes from the recently released, 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) whic...

Video: What Will it Take to End Poverty in Vietnam?
A recent video produced by the World Bank tells the story of two brothers born in a poor family, one living in the mountainous area, one migrating to the city, to respond to the question: What will it...

Vietnamese Architects Unveil Awesome Modular Bamboo Home Design
Vietnam is a land of floods and storms. While Vietnamese have long accepted this reality, mother nature has had profound impact on individuals and the country as a whole. Though some look for ways to ...

Report: Vietnamese Online Shopping Market Climbs to $2.77 Billion
3 reports on Vietnamese online shopping trends have been released recently with drastically different numbers. But no matter which is correct (one has to be correct, right?), it’s clear that web purch...

Trend: HCMC Students Getting High on Cough Medicine
Drugs may be incredibly illegal in Vietnam, but according to a recent report, like their western counterparts, some teenagers have discovered the magical powers of cough medicine. The difference is, i...

FALSE: Street Vendor Caught Using Rat Meat in His Soup
Last week, a report entitled, “The shocking truth about hu tieu street vendors,” wherein a hu tieu vendor was caught using rat in his soups, spread like wildfire across Vietnam's social media networks...

Start Your Engines! Vietnam Motor Show 2013
Whether we like it or not (for the record, we don’t) cars are becoming increasingly popular in Vietnam. To showcase their newest models, 15 auto brands have set up shop at the Saigon Exhibition and C...

Vietnam Burns Through 4.17 Billion Packs of Cigarettes per Year
According to the Vietnam Tobacco Association, the country consumed 4.174 billion packs of cigarettes in 2012. With a population around 90 million, that’s good for an average of over 46 packs a year pe...

Errors Abound in Vietnamese Textbooks
Vietnamese parents are once again up in arms about their children’s education in what looks like yet another example of inconsistency and lack of attention to detail that so many have sadly come to ex...

Celeb. Chef, Bobby Chinn's Crusade for Safer Food in Vietnam
Vietnam may have some of the best food in the world but the country has recently struggled with food safety issues. Over the past few months, stories about tainted noodles and street drinks have been ...

How Saigon's Largest Canal Cleaned up Its Act
You’ve likely observed groups of men fishing along the banks of Saigon’s Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal and wondered how fish could survive in its waters. Apparently it’s a bit cleaner than we may think.&nb...