Xin Chào from Hồ Chí Minh City, Yesterday I had the misfortune of overhearing a tawdry conversation between two American businessmen. It was downstairs in the café, to which the dear reader was partially introduced in the last epistle. It just so happens that I was at that moment reading an autobiography by an …Read More
Xin Chào from Hồ Chí Minh City, Who would want to live in a city? This is from Linda, possibly oblivious to the fact that most people do. She’s looking out over the rooftops where the monsoon storm is brewing, lighting up the layered sky, and the neon lights are punctuating the skyline in every …Read More
Xin Chào from Việt Nam, When certain elements of a society clamour for the removal of certain statues, it’s all about the actions and ideologies of the individual. And how those actions might appear to be anachronistic or hurtful in a modern context. Leopold II in Belgium is spattered with bloody red paint. Robert E. …Read More
Xin Chào from Nha Trang, Where did we get the idea that businesses and sectors badly affected by external forces need to be propped up (rescued) by the taxpayer? the invisible hand The capitalist system has many shortcomings – and aren’t we seeing those in their grim profusion right now? – but one of the …Read More
Xin Chào from Cam Ranh, “It’s disappointing to see so many people catching the buggies.” This is Linda, staying in 5-star luxury for her last week in Viết Nam, overlooking the resort from the 12th floor balcony, watching the rich locals moving around the massive resort, where there are ten swimming pools, a long beach, …Read More
Klum Kuh from Buôn Ma Thuột, Karaoke may have been a Japanese invention, but it is big here in Viết Nam. Perhaps the singers are imagining themselves in lights. Maybe they genuinely fancy themselves as melodious balladeers. Or, do they secretly hope a talent spotter will be lurking in the corner, ready to shove a …Read More
Klum Kuh from Buôn Ma Thuột, It’s in the Viếtnamese interior, in the highlands, where Viết Nam’s ethnic groups co-exist with the majority Kinh. There are said to be 54 ethnic groups. Whereas in some countries, ethnic tribes are just hanging on against the damaging effects of assimilation and creeping modernity, here they are loud …Read More
Xin Chào from the Mekong Delta, The Mekong Delta is rightly known as the food bowl of the region. It’s where most of the exported rice is grown. Most people might perceive a delta as a fairly featureless landscape, with nothing much to draw the visitor. It’s not true. The homestay experience is memorable. This …Read More
Xin Chào from Mỹ Lai, Occasionally, we all need a sobering history lesson. We are in Mỹ Lai, Central Việt Nam: the site of the infamous, eponymous massacre which – when finally exposed 12 months after the event – shocked the waverers and galvanised opposition to the American War. Nobody needs to visit the site …Read More
Xin Chào from central Việt Nam, The recent shocking discovery of 39 young Việtnamese nationals, dead in the back of a lorry near Essex, weighs on my mind more than the average tragedy. It’s not merely because I’m living here in Việt Nam, close enough to know the imperative. The more you get to know …Read More