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

  • Vietnamize the franchise

    Carl Jr, Starbucks, Hard Rock Cafe, KFC, BK, MacDonald, Circle K, Domino, Pizza Hut. The age of franchise bull run. When I said I had been to 40+ cities in N America, I actually meant, I have been to only one. The one with MacDonald, Starbucks, Walmart, Target etc… You got the idea. The funny…

  • Third place, third screen, third world

    Known as the third place (away from home and work), Starbucks did not stop after opening up in Forbidden City, China. It has just opened for business in Vietnam (where the I-phone, our third screen – after TV and desktop – recently made a stirring appearance). Vietnam young consumer segment and older generations with French-cafe…

  • Things we wish we could take with us

    When at Indian Town Gap in 1975, I was busy helping out at the Bureau of Child Welfare so time passed rather quickly. But not for my fellow countrymen. Many sat there worried: how were they going to make it in America, that winter was coming. Many hurried weddings took place at the camp chapel. …

  • Clarity begins at home

    April 27th Newshour  featured Viet entrepreneurs coming back to Vietnam : a. to set up shop b. start an NGO and c. work  for the Clinton’s Initiatives. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june10/vietnam_04-27.html We found in it our own Victor Luu (Software), Andrew Lam (writer), a coffee-house artist and an NGO dedicate. The piece provided balanced perspectives  to the extent…

  • Sound of Saigon

    Young population. Lots of noise and headsets. Night clubs and bars open every single night of  the week.  And let’s not forget those Karaoke stores, coffee shops and sidewalk beer stalls. Certainly not Sound of Silence here. My morning starts with greetings from those neighbor’s roosters. From there on, it will only get louder: bike’s…

  • Saigon open-air concert

    Local singers here command higher caches seven nights a week by bar hopping. But occasionally, like last night, they showed up at an open-air concert to entertain the mass. Sandwiched between numbers were the Viet-Kieu comedian couple as special guests. They talked about how the US economy barely stayed out of the red. And of…

  • 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…

  • rollin, rollin on the (Saigon) river

    Working for the man, every night and day… big wheel keeps on turnin, River boat dining provides another view of Saigon Water front. Hotel Majestic, Sheraton and Sun Wah guests look at you (dining on the river boat), while you look at them. Tourists are still coming in drove and enjoying a night out. From…

  • Luxury brands beach-heading VN

    It started with Gucci and LV. More will be coming to test the warers, from McDonald to KFC , from Starbucks to Burger King.   Everybody is into location, location, location. I look at the city as if it were a big fairground, where interested parties are staking out their prime real estate. Flag and flip. Both…

  • body building in Saigon

    I have paid my first-month membership and come back for seven days straight. The place is tiny.  I must have timed it badly: my body peak performance coincides with peak-time traffic which weaves through the front door (bikes found their short cut artery in an alley). So I lift while listening to Michael Jackson’s CD. I…