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: Saigon

  • The Vietnam that could and will

    You can feel it. The energy, aspiration and action. I haven’t seen an idle person here in Saigon. Even people with great disabilities crawl on their hands and knees, through rough and uneven gutters to sell lottery tickets or variety of snacks. Everybody is proud of their native son: Ngo Bao Chau, math genius. The country is…

  • Saigon heat

    Rain and heat, the yin and yan of Saigon. I saw sugar donuts on sale, so I thought of my niece who used to love those melted brown sugar donuts. I tried one. It chipped away my tooth, which happened to be the base  for neighbouring crown. So I had to plant back all three. Costly…

  • Flamencing Vietnam

    The rhythm. The ambience. And the audience at Carmen. Different breed. Different beat. The Vietnamese singer tried hard at rolling her Latin “R”‘s, just like her predecessors at the French “un”, or the English “you”. Vietnam, and Saigon in particular, has  always been a mix of culture: Cuban band on Caravelle terrace or Carmen Club nearby.…

  • Saigon in motion

    A couch floats down the river right pass Bong Bridge a while ago. As of this edit, there was a “hot” clip about police trying to stop a girl from jumping to her death on another bridge. Vietnam still has to battle with forces of nature, (typhoon Utor) and economic pressures  (bad debt). Here, before…

  • India + 1 cafeteria

    I ordered an iced coffee with milk, this time not in the to-go cup. I just want to sit down, and take it all in. No I am not in India. But close. I am in formerly known as Saigon. On the  8th floor. REBOOT CAFE. The LogiGear building. Offshore software testing center. Young engineers…

  • Saigon upgrade

    In 2000, I was sitting at Cadillac, a semi-enclosed bar, whose band played Hotel California and I Will Survive. In 2010, I found myself at Rolls Royce, which also played Hotel California and I Will Survive. 2013, at Van’s Cafe, its band plays Bon Jovi’s number lacing with Santana’s classics. Nouveaux riches, yetl good oldies. The expats…

  • 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…

  • 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…