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: Vietnam

  • 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. …

  • Vietnamese love for French

    When traveling in Vietnam, you can still hear French embedded in every-day culture: fork (fut-xet) , suit (com-plet) and tie (ca-ra-vat). Apparently, they just use the phoneticized versions for lack of dynamic equivalents and use literal translation, such as “Hop Dem” (Boite de Nuit) as last resort. Some old hands can still carry a tune…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Maslow and Vietnam

    Tocqueville saw in America a country full of contradictions. He could say the same with Vietnam: people are moving up the Maslow scale, but some want to leap-frog security step i.e. basic needs to self-esteem need. Nouveau riches switch companions like Hollywood celebs. Forbes or Swiss bank lists almost 200 Millionaires (USD). Everything is bought…

  • Vespa in Vietnam

    The brand is revitalized and resuscitated here in Saigon.  If not for the helmets, I would think it is a replay of A Roman Holiday. Back then, the burning monk was pouring gasoline on himself and asked a younger monk to lit the fire. He earned a memorial in that intersection. Another Buddhist temple a few…

  • early imprints

    I ordered my breakfast instinctively. And it’s 8 in the morning in Vietnam. Already I feel the heat and humidity. Through the Australian school yard, I saw teachers in ao-dai. Could have been the ghost of my mom’s past. Children are obviously better fed these days. And they have gone on to game 3.0 (playing less…