Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Ho Chi Minh City
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Ugliness and evil exist in unlikely places. So are beauty and goodness. A vulnerable butterfly dancing in rush-hour traffic, an innocent child on the way home from periodic check-ups. Life offers us not an a-la-cart menu, but a buffet. Fill up not with french fries and jello. Yet at the same time, eat not in…
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Like a scene from Cinema Paradiso (when the film producer returned to his village just to find out his beloved movie house demolished for a parking lot) I too start seeing the skyline of Saigon rising, blocking the old bank where my sister used to work. Another one is being planned next to cho Ben Thanh…
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The audience sang along, occasionally to the shared mike. We will we will rock you. Tonight gonna be a good good night. Even Top of the World which was a relic from the 70’s. A night at Acoustic, Saigon. A night to release the stress. A night to see Rock rules in a whole new generation. The…
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I see strength in broken places every day. In people peddling lottery tickets, in pedicab drivers, in xe-om and conical-hat ladies. They move about under the shadow of high rises here in Saigon. Broken limb and broken dream. Yet I see strength in their struggle. I see resilience where there should have none. Death is in no…
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I jumped on the divan and sat in the middle of it, as far away from the rising water as possible. For a 3 year-old, the sight of water everywhere must be frightening. Water like what was brought in yesterday by the storm. Saigon was hit direct. Trees toppled and treasure lost. The French architect planned…
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Out of hundreds, emerged one. Winner of the throne. Winner of brand simple. Vua Hung Vuong, Vietnam‘s first King. His campaign? Neither communication skill, nor combating skill. But culinary skill. Simple dishes yet full of meaning: square bean cake representing the Earth, round one the Moon. Harmony without and symmetry within. Bingo! The throne is yours.…
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It reminded me of the scene from Woodstock: long-hair kids, guitar, tatoo and scooters. All converged in an alley. Parking was a problem. I asked neighbors to pitch in: it’s a wake for a musician friend who had recently passed away. His students came from My Tho, those with eye-sights and those without. They jammed, they…
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It rained on the book fair here in Saigon. Word and water don’t mix. But I must admit seeing young readers eager to browse anything and everything, even kissing the note books we handed out, warms my heart. I can relate to why the Happiness Index listed top countries such as Costa Rica and Vietnam. Money might…
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What do you do when you are awaken in the dark, with trumpet sound out “auld lang sync”? (To te con me danh du). Should we forget the time we picked daisies in the field. Yet that vibration created sensation at the early hour here in Saigon. The departed tried to fight traffic to his/her burial ground.…
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Organizations go through many life cycles before winding down, or absorbed in a M&A. Here in Vietnam, fluidity is the word that describes the dynamics of organization. Like organism that evolves with its environment, organization here often bends and changes beyond recognition. We know the solution is embedded in the problem. Yet we need to…
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