Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Asia
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The Economist has a timely expose on “the Tale of two expats”. http://www.economist.com/node/17797134 It is written from a British perspective. If it were for the US, an entire section would have to be added in (given the background of Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese Internment Camp, and 80’s Yellow Peril). It’s hard for America to…
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Last week, an op-ed in the NYT lamented the death of Disney dream in America. This week, they signed a multi-million dollar deal to build HappyLand in Long An, Vietnam. The dream doesn’t die. It simply moved offshore. Imagine you can tour both Cu Chi Tunnel and HappyLand in one full sweep. The new Vietnam…
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2010/12/christmas_vietnam Ho, Ho, Ho in Ho Chi Minh City. Toys for tots, delivered by Santa on moped. When the US pulled out of Vietnam, it played “White Christmas” on Armed Forces radio. Now, it’s peace-time Vietnam, where people enjoy every bit of cotton and confetti used to decorate the city’s manger. I was there two…
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From beepers to printers, from pay phones to city-phones, Vietnam was in a hurry to leapfrog to latest in Telecommunication. After all, there are a lot of territories to be covered, even now, with 3-G. But some attempts stick, others faltered according to an article in Labor newspaper. http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=538113 It stated that some rural households…
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I often interact with nephews, one in particular is even older than I, but all call me Uncle. To them, I belong to the previous batch. Last of the line. In the old Vietnam, once you made past 50, you are moved up to the “elder” circle (“chieu tren”) when feasting. I had an occasion to do…
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Every year, flooding in SE Asia killed people and took away their livelihood. And every year, people rush out to give materials and their time for reconstruction. So the mishaps were occasions for the best in humanity, and turn a flood of misery into a flood of love. Nobody wants to be on the receiving…
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Adjust your lens or change it, then you will see all kinds of things. Even the same things, but much clearer. The power of reframing. Organization or organism all need to self-examine at one time or another. For instance, after taking your shirts back from the cleaners, you might notice that even though they are…
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Infrastructure improvement could cost billions. Kids need to drive someday. And as Mr Buffet wisely put his investment dollars into railways since containers need to be offloaded to the Wal-Mart near you. Those who travel recently can recall “boarding by zone”, “e-ticketing”, etc.. All sorts of gimmicks , except for the limited runways and slots allowed…
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Yesterday I saw a blind man, cane first, feet followed, amidst really busy traffic. He was neither assisted by a companion, dog or human being, nor by traffic alerts for the blind. Yet he made it to the other side (without music from the Door) , and was on his way into an alley, which…
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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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