Saigoneer

As far as tourist attractions go, Saigon's Geological Museum is neither the most well-maintained nor most popular — few even know it exists. And yet, stepping inside the derelict modernist building that houses it, there's a sense of whimsy and old-world excitement as if one's a character in an Indiana Jones adventure. ___ Written by Paul Christiansen. Read the full article here:  https...

In the later half of the 20th century, at the height of Vietnam's diplomatic tie with the Soviet Union, many Vietnamese students were sent to the USSR to train in science, engineering, politics, and more. Soviet culture and cuisine thus became a mainstay in many local households during those decades. In Saigon today, if one is hankering for borscht, salo, shashlyk, CCCP Restaurant is one of th...

In 2015, a Facebook group called “Vietnamese Modernist Architecture” was founded. For many years, the group was a small but dedicated community for a devoted handful to archive buildings before they vanished, and pay tribute to the architects who laid the foundations of the movement. In the past months, however, the group's population has grown several folds, shifting from niche documentation...

If one were to thus try and compile the many disparate points that comprise Vietnamese culture, one must make space for ngồi chồm hổm. As its oft-used English equivalent, “Asian squat,” attests to, the style of crouching low to the ground, perfectly balanced without a chair, is common across Asia broadly. Still, it is such a frequent sight in Vietnam that we should consider it an element of Vietna...

Generations of Vietnamese students have grown up bidding farewell to their formative years with the tint of phượng flowers coloring their most sentimental memories, so phượng has earned a deep-rooted reputation as the symbol of summer, school years, and teenage dreams. An unexpected accident in 2020, however, has soured the time-honored connection between us and phượng, perhaps forever. ___ Writte...

“Sometimes I see đồ bộ as miền Tây’s unofficial uniform. From the well-off to laborers in the field, their dressers are bound to feature a few sets. The southern region is too sweltering and humid for stiff formality in daily fashion, or sharp distinctions between clothes to “wear at home” versus “wear outside.” Everyday, the same outfit can be worn to cook lunch and sweep the floor in the morning...

“Three pillars uphold what I consider the quintessential Vietnamese birthday experience: Heineken or Tiger beer cans on the floor; the sweet smoky smell of bún chả and nem enlaced with the rainy air of a darkening Saigon sky; and my friends and family under the LED-lit roof of an iCool karaoke room. Versions of this birthday routine punctuated my summers until July 2024, when I left Vietnam for Ca...

Cricket song. You read the words and immediately hear the chirping. That thrilling trill of strummed air. Humans have been hearing the quivering echo of tiếng dế since we first came into existence. And over time, we’ve attached a variety of meanings to it and the creature that makes it. ___ Written by Paul Christiansen. Read the full article here:  https://saigoneer.com/natural-selection/26694-cri...

“Asian parents are notorious for their struggle to express love using words, but one only needs to look at their actions to feel that tangible tenderness. A plate of neatly peeled and sliced mango is just as effective as a whispered ‘I love you’ at the end of a call. In Saigon, where enunciated ‘I love you’ are scarce and fruit is abundant, if you don’t have access to lovingly home-cut fruits, I t...

For Vietnamese millennials, our existence on Earth somewhat overlaps that bizarre timeline spanning the two extremes from “what is the inter-web?” to “every minutia of life is online,” so, of the multitudes of sounds from our formative years, many have been lost forever or now can only be found in random videos on YouTube. ___ Written by Khôi Phạm. Read the full article here:  https://saigoneer.co...

The iconic image of cô Mía, whose real identity remains a mystery, was once on virtually every nước mía cart in Saigon. In the past year, however, generic, mass-produced design has taken over local sugarcane juice shops in place of the hand-painted smirk of cô Mía. Is it time yet to add cô Mía to the growing list of endangered species of Vietnam? ___ Written by Paul Christiansen. Read the full art...

In a handful of Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, scientists have discovered fossilized remains of various species of dinosaurs, but not Vietnam — not for lack of trying. Are we just really unlucky diggers or were our prehistoric plains and jungles so inhospitable that dinosaurs said “bo xì bo”? ___ Written by Paul Christiansen and Khôi Nguyễn. R...

“To a child of a provincial town, newspapers and magazines were the most valuable source of information I could get my hands on. They were my windows to the big wild world out there, unveiling the events happening beyond my tiny town, things that at times I couldn’t quite fully understand, but have helped me learn about the interesting complexities of our society. Those papers nurtured my soul, an...

“District 7 is both foreign and familiar to me after five years studying and working here, but stopping by a sidewalk to have a southwestern bowl of bún riêu is not the only thing that makes me miss home. Here and there, I can sense fragments of my hometown in the accent of the servers, in the way they call out orders, in how they banter with regulars, how they joke around during downtime, the sta...

To explore Nhiêu Lộc Canal, there are two directions curious Saigoneers can take: you can choose to delve into the history behind its founding, as a waterway established in the 19th century to connect with the Mekong Delta, for travel, trade and help control floods; or you can take a short drive upstream to Út Tịch Street in Tân Bình, where the water begins. We chose the second option. ___ Written...

In the past, võng was a mark of prestige reserved for court mandarins and rich nobles who could afford to be carried around by servants. In today’s Vietnam, however, it’s often associated with cheap rest stops and countryside homes, which is a shame because the hammock, our writer argues, is one of the most comfortable places to take a nap out there. ___ Written by Paul Christiansen. Read the full...

“Piercing through the teardrop monument is a heart-shaped hole. It exists because we are all incomplete alone, incomplete without the care and labor of and for one another, a reciprocity so often unfulfilled. Standing before the droplet, I observe what it reflects. I’m there, tiny amidst it all. And above me, the bright blue sky, still looming large, still looming high.”___Listen to the full artic...

If you have relatives who live abroad, it's likely that you've noticed this aroma, which perfumes their luggage whenever they make a visit. Amongst the Hershey's Kisses, Irish Spring soaps, and multivitamins, there's a distinctive scent that's often referred to as "mùi Việt Kiều." As lunar new year is coming close and so is reunion season, our writer takes a walk down memory lane to reflect on the...

"Love them or resent them, these raincoats are an inevitable artifact of our species’ optimism and hubris. We always think we will not forget, until we do. And when that moment arrives, the choreography is oddly uniform, open the under-seat compartment, find the raincoats, lift them, and know they will not survive another storm. We pull over and buy more." ___ Written by Uyên Đỗ. Read th...

Much like mushrooms sprouting after the rain, grassroots water sources have appeared during dry spells in every corner of the city. Bearing friendly messages like “Free drinking water” or “Cool water for travelers,” stainless steel containers and insulated buckets dot the sidewalks to serve as mobile wellsprings for those in need of hydration. ___ Listen to the full article at: YouTube:  https://y...

“I still remember vividly the anticipation running through my veins, when I saw a waiter bringing me a glass of sữa đậu nành, every time my family took me to one of the many Vietnamese restaurants of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the city’s renowned Chinatown. For me, this glass represented the quintessence of typical Vietnamese drinks during a good meal: one of the rare glimpses into the dail...

Much like mushrooms sprouting after the rain, grassroots water sources have appeared during dry spells in every corner of the city. Bearing friendly messages like “Free drinking water” or “Cool water for travelers,” stainless steel containers and insulated buckets dot the sidewalks to serve as mobile wellsprings for those in need of hydration. ___ Written by Uyên Đỗ. Read the full article here:  h...

“Piercing through the teardrop monument is a heart-shaped hole. It exists because we are all incomplete alone, incomplete without the care and labor of and for one another, a reciprocity so often unfulfilled. Standing before the droplet, I observe what it reflects. I’m there, tiny amidst it all. And above me, the bright blue sky, still looming large, still looming high.” ___ Written by San Kwon. R...

From banana leaves to a plastic mold, one food producer's decision to change the design of its bánh giò is sparking debates online. What does it say about the shifting tastes and economic health of today? ___ Written by Khôi Phạm. Read the full article here:  https://saigoneer.com/saigon-food-culture/28768-welcome-to-the-new-age-of-mass-produced,-enshittified-plastic-bánh-giò .

If you have relatives who live abroad, it's likely that you've noticed this aroma, which perfumes their luggage whenever they make a visit. Amongst the Hershey's Kisses, Irish Spring soaps, and multivitamins, there's a distinctive scent that's often referred to as "mùi Việt Kiều." As lunar new year is coming close and so is reunion season, our writer takes a walk down...