Outside Viet

Send us Fan Mail This is no anime, this is Việt history. A royal son, begotten from a palace maid, passed over by his father for the throne (along with his cross dressing older brother, confusingly named Lê Tuân), Lê Tuấn wrested what he believed what rightfully his after his younger brother died after 6 months of rule. Then began a reign of terror of years, with revenge killings, surveillance and...

Send us Fan Mail Why are there so many red bean desserts? Why are western desserts better?  Dennis and Jon explore what should be a culinary treasure trove and find mostly sadness in Eastern desserts.

Send us Fan Mail In the 850s CE, An Nam (Vietnam's provincial name under the Tang Dynasty) came under attack by the Nanzhao kingdom, located in modern day southwestern China. Failures by successive military governors led to the appointment of Gao Pian, a proven general and Taoist. Using his skills and support from his loyal officers, Gao Pian drove out the Nanzhao invaders, retaining An Nam f...

Send us Fan Mail A unique art, a unifying cultural experience that both North and South Vietnam can agree to, water puppetry was born in the north in the flooded rice fields. Come with us as we delve into the chest deep waters these shows take place in and learn about what Dennis calls Vietnam's greatest cultural achievement.

Send us Fan Mail Why are Viets always late? Why are there so many red bean desserts? Why are western desserts better?  Dennis and Jon explore what should be a culinary treasure trove and find mostly sadness in Eastern desserts.

Send us Fan Mail Big Head and Dennis carry on their journey to healthiness (kind of?) and down the coastline of Vietnam. I will also never run out of excuses - for being unhealthy and not telling Big Head and Dennis about Vietnamese stuff. 

Send us Fan Mail Dennis definitely found a better way of saying Fire Horse. Welcome to Outside Viet and our annual tradition of breaking in the Lunar (Chinese) New Year. We check in folks in the past, we talk random Viet related things in the present and Jon fails to make any predictions about the future.

Send us Fan Mail This is not a paid promotion - Dennis discovered this challenge and signed himself and Big Head for it. Be aware, there is a cost to this challenge ($39 or $70 USD and you get merch with free shipping). Dennis and Big Head have signed up for the Vietnam Coast Virtual Challenge (website: https://www.theconqueror.events/vietnamcoast/ ). Per the website, it is a an interesting fitnes...

Send us Fan Mail This is a rough methodology Vietnamese use to figure which pronouns to use to speak with one another. This does not include work place, LGTBQ+, imperial era or any other scenarios beyond contemporary ones. A summary of considerations are: 1. Which part of Vietnam everyone is from (North vs. South). 2. Are you speaking with family or with a stranger. 3. For families, are you talkin...

Send us Fan Mail What makes bar food (foods to have while drinking) great? Which country has the best? Canada/US, the UK, Vietnam, China? Why do half of Vietnamese bar foods seem like they were made up by drunks?  Note: we didn't include the European ones like tapas or German varietals, because we never had them before. We try to stay factual. Whatever your favourite foods that go with drinks...

Send us Fan Mail Vinfast is Vietnam's only current domestic car manufacturer and part of the larger Vingroup of companies. Dennis and I go for a spin and cruise through the available information about the company.

Send us Fan Mail Stories of the Forest People (người rùng) were abound during the Vietnam (or American, depending on your perspective) War. Stories about these tall, powerful and hairy people stretched back to French colonial times. We hope Rolando Bautista found what he was looking for.

Send us Fan Mail Two Vietnamese have reached the highest heights, space. One under the USSR banner and under the Stars and Stripes. We have a chat about them, a failed back up pilot for the SRV cosmonaut and a failed attempt at having an F1 race in Vietnam. PS: Amanda Nguyễn, an American social entrepreneur and civil rights activist (EN Wiki) was able to achieve her dream of reaching space on the...

Send us Fan Mail September 2, 1945 (Hanoi). Hồ Chí Minh declares the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( Tuyên ngôn độc lập Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa ) at the Ba Đình square. This is a major milestone on Vietnam's journey to freeing itself from French colonization and ultimately becoming a free and independent country. The shape that Vietnam would take came from decades more...

Send us Fan Mail A question few have asked is, how many Vietnamese have ever gone to the coldest reaches our world, away from the typical hot and humid climate of Vietnam. Bear with us, as Dennis and I explore the questions while making our rounds to both ends of the Earth.  Link to the news article about the Vietnamese living on the remote Alaskan islands: https://youtu.be/8oTmyQp-qAA?si=QcVaBdTo...

Send us Fan Mail Smelly, salty, savory, the life blood of the Vietnamese, Thais and other southeast Asian peoples. Also a few folks from China, Korea and Japan. We touch upon this crucial condiment in this episode.

Send us Fan Mail Forget the other lists you ever seen (I looked at most of them), this is the real list of what I think are the worst food (or food categories). Don't think for a second these aren't foods! They are popular for different people. As a bonus, we included some whack foods from neighbouring countries. And Dennis has found out about century eggs ( Trứng vịt bắc thảo ) and thei...

Send us Fan Mail Is Lý Long Tường (Yi Yong-sang) one of Vietnam's greatest exports to Korea? The Grand Tutor, a general who defeated Mongols invaders twice, showing that it was not just the Trần in Đại Việt who could get it done. The progenitor of the Hwasan Lee clan , his influence has stretched across the centuries.

Send us Fan Mail Reunification. An innocuous word in general, a dirty word for many overseas Vietnamese. In light of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam being reunified on April 30, 1975 (whether some choose to accept it or not, the reality is that Vietnam is unified as a Socialist Republic), these are some stories from my parents, before and after this seminal event. Many of these memories are fragme...

Send us Fan Mail During this 161 year rivalry, the figurehead Lê emperor watches helplessly as two prominent families who helped reclaim the throne from the Mạc usurpers, vie for power. A prelude to the later division of Vietnam in the 20th century, the two halves of Vietnam (at the time Đại Việt or Great Viet) would continue to march forward, or in the case of the Nguyễn, march south, into histor...

Send us Fan Mail Vaping is banned in Vietnam and we couldn't be happier!

Send us Fan Mail C húc mừng năm mới ! We ring in the new year by denouncing nagas, learn about characteristics of people born in the year of the snake and rank a selection of those people. Remember, it's the Wood Snake this year.

Send us Fan Mail Happy 2025! I learned many songs that I like in the Vietnamese repetoire are actually covers of Cantonese and Mandarin pop songs. In doing the research, I was surprised how some of these Chinese songs were in themselves covers or inspired by other songs (generally Japanese). I also learned how many famous bands started out as cover bands, including the Beatles and the Rolling Ston...

Send us Fan Mail Green gold with a black secret. Do you know where your food comes from? This episode we look at the similarities and differences in the avocado industry between Vietnam and Mexico.

Send us Fan Mail Our airport shuttle driver had a lot to say about many things, including some tidbits about Capitalist Lan. Roads were a bit clogged up due to her second trial. SCB branches seemed to be open while I was there. Her trial to appeal her death sentence started at the time of this episode's publication.