Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Tag: Ho Chi Minh City

  • 10,000 hours

    How many among us actually put in that many hours pursuing one thing? Yet studies show it takes that much practice to master a skill or a trade. That long to promote ourselves to the rank of outlier : Bill Gates coding skill, the Beatles smooth performance etc… Today marks my first 10,000 views of…

  • Cancer and Career

    At Van’s Cafe Ho Chi Minh City, if you stayed til the end of their second set of music, you would no longer hear Truc Vy doing her closing songs. She performed her set last week for the last time. Despite her late-stage throat cancer, she gave her best with composure and courage. I did…

  • Van’s Cafe pt II

    Last Sunday morning was my first time at the jam session here. Today, my second. It is getting better, sweeter and with more substance. Thanksgiving weekend with friends and music lovers. It’s game weekend in the US. Or shop til you drop. Here jazz music permeates the air we breathe. Unrehearsed of course. But it…

  • Goodbye Saigon, pt II

    Another friend flew out for Thanksgiving. There is no such a thing here in Saigon: oven-roasted turkey, croton and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce , yam and apple pie. Mouth-watering!  children running around and old folks reminiscing the good old days. Yes, his destination has a few hallmarks of the American Dream. Here in old Saigon,…

  • Brunch w/ a bunch (of jamers)

    It’s my first time at  Van’s Cafe, 46 Pham Ngoc Thach, District 1 Saigon on Sunday morning. And I found myself walking into the door with 2 musicians I know: Mr Hai, on base guitar, and Quoc Dat (blind but extremely gifted jazz pianist, and a student of my now deceased friend.). Before I knew it, people…

  • Cyclo in the time of Google

    By now, you can still see a few weather-beaten cyclos around albeit restricted to tourist quarters. I still remember the sound of horse carriage in the streets of  old Saigon. My kid will be lucky if she knows what a cyclo is. She knows Google though. Paperless and painless search. Now with semantic search. My profile, age in particular, triggers online ads on…

  • We can handle the truth

    We here are people who fled Vietnam in various waves (pre-1975, 1975, and post-1975) and have settled in Little Saigon, Orange County, CA. I have seen the strip transformed, from a few stores to be what it is today: patch work of mini plazas interlacing with mobile home parks, often times, reflections of the boom and…

  • New Context New Narrative

    When Starbucks opened its first store in Saigon, it must have been a big blast. Centrally located, visibly in-your-face, upscale e.g. wifi and air-conditioned. Early stage. When I had my cup of Starbucks, like this morning, in a Virginian Mall, there was no fanfare, no fuss. Late stage. Same store and story (pour your heart into…

  • Go a bit more native

    In 2000, after 25 years of being away, I made a short trip back to Vietnam. What a culture shock (especially when I landed in Hanoi, where I had only heard about). Twelve years. A dozen trips later. A little deeper into the alleys and byways. I think I have touched on different parts of the proverbial…

  • Fast foods invasion

    It’s kind of redundancy. Fast foods in Saigon? The place has already been fast. I don’t know if fast foods will help. At Saigon Central (train depot), I was told to take a number and wait (the way Carl Jr would do in the US) for my fries. Saigon is not used to mono-chronistic tempo…