L ast month, I was surprised to find that the first Trump supporters I know of turned out to be Vietnamese Americans. They’re a middle aged couple, family friends, and while I’ve always known them to be Republicans, (most Vietnamese who left the country for political reasons naturally gravitate to the Republican party) the tenacity of their support for Trump […]
The conservatism of Vietnamese Americans Read More »
This review has also been published on Bliss Saigon in their culture section. M idway through Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, the protagonist of the novel, a Vietnamese spy for the north on assignment to follow a Southern Vietnamese general who is exiled to America after the war ended, is tasked with hiring extras to play Northern Viet Cong “baddies”
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer winner: “The Sympathizer” Read More »
H appy hours are typically seen as a way for alcohol hounds to maximize ratio of booze for money spent. The best happy hours, however, combine good alcohol pricing with numerous other variables. This review aims to give a bit more than just a practical treatment of the happy hour scene in Saigon, a city with a burgeoning craft cocktail
Two happy hour hotspots in Saigon Read More »
My mom found a Vietnamese poem online for Will & May Elise’s wedding by Toan Tam Hoa which seemed so fitting with their love story. I translated it into English (taking some liberties with the original in the process). We read it together during the wedding service, my mother the original, and I, the translation.
A few pieces for my brother’s wedding: a toast and a translation. Read More »
A beautiful day in lower Manhattan, early autumn, cool enough for sweater vests, not sweaters, a sprinkle of rain in the early morning, the air windswept and sharp… just. Cool, diffused, leaf-dappled October light on the ground.
Celebrity encounters part 2 Read More »
Is it possible for a man having a mercilessly, unrelentingly bad day, to suddenly turn it around after he encounters his favourite celebrity? Can the latter positive negate all the negatives that came before?
On Celebrity Encounters Read More »
Recently, I had the good fortune to be shown the virtual reality playroom in the Google offices in New York where my brother works. My brother and I spent about an hour and a half trying out some incredible virtual reality hardware, testing out zombie shoot em ups, plane landing games, fruit ninja games (the controller becomes
Augmented or virtual reality, which do you pikachuse? Read More »
About five years ago, my father applied for and received his Vietnamese citizenship once again (we had sacrificed it when we left the country illegally in a boat many years ago). As a dual citizen of both Vietnam and the US., he is now privy to the benefits offered by both.
My father buys a pineapple farm in Phu Quoc Read More »
I left Hong Kong for a year to get a taste of a slower life, to consider the world’s motions through the lenses of a person with time to spare. What could be better than this slow sweetness, what better than to sense the day’s oozings hours by hours? The great
Sweet indolence of the slow life Read More »
It’s been officially a month since my move to Saigon, and it will soon be a full month since I was last paid. Given that I am salary-less for the rest of this year, I’ve taken to trying out an abstemious lifestyle while simultaneously getting more adventurous with where I get my meals. It’s no fun listing ways
Street food in HCMC Read More »