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

  • Slippery Saigon

    I went out for my morning jog in slippery Saigon.  I was hoping for cooler weather. Now that my wish was granted, I begin to have second thought: if it’s cool here, it means somewhere up North, people are freezing, or boats and houses destroyed. We live in a connected world and leave behind carbon footprints.…

  • World on wheels

    You want to see wheels at work, you come to Saigon. (Baby) strollers, scooters, (food) stalls, all on wheels. But instead of having you walk up to a vending machine, here the merchandise come to you. Ladies in cone hats would walk about with all sorts of knickknacks on their shoulders: toe clippers, wallets, key…

  • Crying girl

    I walked by a shop today and I saw a girl holding a knife, crying. She was peeling onion for the restaurant. Artificially induced tears. Not triggered by sad emotion. Real, nevertheless. It made me appreciate behind-the-scene people (since I happened to have breakfast with real onion, the same kind this girl was peeling). Nickel-and-dime…

  • Traffic dance in Saigon

    First-timers to Saigon are shocked on arrival: the dance of two-wheel traffic. Some even had to flag down a cyclo (three-way cycle) to take them across the street. An Ivy-League Math Prof was killed when crossing the street. He was there for a conference on solving traffic problems. I have slowly built up confidence and…

  • From Mandarin to Model (Lung Dai-Chan Dai)

    My generation have been a betweener one: from Mandarin to Mobile phone system, from French Colonial to Fashion TV (with Asia Next Top Model). The saying goes like this “Vong Anh di truoc, Vong Nang theo sau” i.e. when a man passed the King’s exam, he went home to the village , with his lady in tow. Now, it’s the Model who get…

  • No rest for the weary

    Saigon currently is under a shield of grey. The weary, the worried put on ponchos, just to take them off. False alarm. Oh Come Ye O Faithful blasted out from neighboring homes. Christmas is in the air. but not for those who make a living hand-to-mouth, and there are a lot them. Maybe this year is the year…

  • The Filipino Invasion

    You will find a bunch of Filipino bands around Saigon, from Hard Rock Cafe to Acoustic. When the British rock bands gained noteriety in America back in the 60’s, the phenomenon was coined The British Invasion. Now Vietnam is experiencing similar invasion by their neighbors.  They got the language (English), the look (still brown-skinned), and the connection (E2…

  • Romancing Saigon

    Good luck! Bit it’s better  for you to wait until the scorching heat subsides, before you have a chance. There are layers to Saigon, like you would peeling an onion. Cafe Sua Da prices fluctuate from one street corner to the next. On the main tourist strip, you still find Zippo lighters and even dog tags…

  • Madonna and child

    Not the Seine in Paris. But Rach Nhieu Loc in Saigon. She wore a cone hat. Baby tanning in the morning sun, resting in her bosom. The other hand, she checked her messages from a mobile phone. It’s  Thanksgiving in Vietnam. People  have a lot to be thankful for. It’s now ranked second on Happy Country…

  • Love sees differently

    It’s half past five AM. Outside the Women Association of Ho Chi Minh City, I heard music. Not hip hop, not trance. Jut Gold music “Gui Gio Cho May Ngan Bay”, blasted from a boom box . It’s dark, but the sidewalk hosted a group of women practicing Tai-Chi.  The music was about acceptance, about one wing drops after another. But…