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Years ago, I met a GI in West Virginia. He couldn’t recall the name of a bridge in Saigon, only that it’s a fork on the road. I blurted out, “the Y bridge”. Something came rushing out of the man’s eyes albeit well-hidden behind thick glasses. He was instantly transported back to a time and…
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Rain pours so hard here in Saigon. It feels like a city wash. Yet bike traffic never ceases. Wet city streets didn’t stop weekend spontaneous racing. Hard-earned money got washed away just as quickly as it is earned, mostly at beer stalls. People press RESET and go on. It’s not too different elsewhere. Just differs in intensity…
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“I want nobody nobody but you” blasted out from, of all places, busy Hang Xanh circle, Electronics Supermarket by Thailand. Buy a laptop, got a free phone. Flat screen tv‘s, refrigerators and karaoke systems. Should be the envy of our proverbial Maytag man since N American market has been saturated for a while. How many TV’s can you fit…
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It’s been a few days since full moon. But people here in HCMC still burn incense and ceremonial money for the dead, most particularly, for deceased mothers. Meanwhile, there is a class of women entrepreneurs who don’t mind drink you under the table, drive to work and in every aspect, personify the softer side of Saigon.…
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I attended Quyen Thien Dac and the Nilsson Trio (Jazz) performance a while ago. Cultural exchange. But “fant” or on-the-dime invention is not new here. Saigon traffic has already been jazzy, zigzagging at every turn. I was with friends. He himself brought an ensemble of jazz men to Vietnam a while back. Mighty proud of my friend…
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Forbes recently printed a McKinsey report about the coming consumer society in Vietnam. In other words, we will soon see La Vache qui rit in supermarkets along side real cows which are still allowed to roam free in the country side. Vietnam 2040 will very much resemble US 1950, when the going was good: chicken in…
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Yahoo News had a piece about Diaspora, the return. It features Mrs Nguyen Cao Ky, who is now a proud owner of a Pho restaurant in former Saigon. She said to have spent a few months in the US, and the rest in Vietnam. Other Viet Kieu expressed similar sentiment: “when I am here, I…
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Both have open air market. Both got some body of water that defines the city. But that’s about it. 6 hours apart, they might as well be worlds apart. Dakao, even without the street construction, can test your patience. Dalat, even with a new bridge construction, can afford its lake water drained for months .…
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Village, villa and my vali. Tres French. Tres chic: foula, sweater, socks. No traffic, and the lake all empty out. The bottom of the lake is to be refinished. Dalat without the lake, like an off-season swimming pool. Of course, I sat at Cafe Cali. Near the University, near the romantic oak trees where youthful…
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You can feel it. The energy, aspiration and action. I haven’t seen an idle person here in Saigon. Even people with great disabilities crawl on their hands and knees, through rough and uneven gutters to sell lottery tickets or variety of snacks. Everybody is proud of their native son: Ngo Bao Chau, math genius. The country is…
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Thang Nguyen 555 