Saigoneer Audio Archive

This week's show features a super-sized segment on Vietnamese folk tales (1:09), in which we share some of our favorite legends and stories.

Our interview segment (22:24) features Quynh Lam, the contemporary artist known for her works which highlight the issue of being a woman in Vietnam. Find examples of her work here: https://www.quynhsequoia.com/.

As always, we close with Banh Mi Banter (33:17). Once you've finished, watch this puzzling video which we discuss during the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnYuAt9_tsI&t=5s.

This week we begin (1:22) with a look at the prevalence of fake goods and businesses in Vietnam, and whether or not they're a bad thing. This follows allegations that Mumuso and Minigood are actually Chinese companies, despite their Korean branding.

Then (11:36) we chat about some uber-successful Vietnamese millenials who are beating the stereotype that young people are lazy and lack business drive.

Our interview discussion (19:51) features Erik Harms, an associate professor of anthropology and Southeast Asia studies at Yale. He wrote the 2016 book 'Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon,' which looks at two of the city's biggest planned developments. We had an in-depth discussion about Thu Thiem and the recent controversy swirling around the project.

As always, we close with Banh Mi Banter (51:53).

This week we begin (1:23) with a look at the strides Vietnamese cinema has taken in recent years, both in terms of production quality and screenwriting. We also discuss why you should see local movies over foreign imports.

Then (13:02), we dive into some of the digital sub-cultures that have spawned in Vietnam thanks to the ubiquity of social media, including country-specific memes and confession pages.

Our interview segment (23:28) features Benjamin Bathke, a German journalist who recently spent three months in Vietnam interviewing business owners, entrepreneurs, academics and more. He shares a few stories from the road.

As always, we end with Banh Mi Banter (43:42).

We begin (1:37) with a roundup of some of our favorite recent Saigon street food escapades, as listeners have asked for more food coverage. How does banh mi dim sum or a seafood feast sound to you?

Then (10:20) we examine Vietnam's potential #MeToo moment, which began with a sexual assault allegation at Tuoi Tre, one of the country's largest newspapers.

Our interview segment (21:33) is with Dr. Phuong Mai Nguyen, a Hanoi native who is now a university professor in Amsterdam, as well as a popular author and researcher.

As always, we end with Banh Mi Banter (34:14).

This week we moved into a recording studio, meaning this episode will sound different from all of our previous ones.

In our first segment we share the stories of the most unique hobbies we've come across in Saigon, including a friend who likes to burn dirt and men who groom chickens for beauty contests.

Then, we look at mental health in Vietnam through a personal lens.

Our interview segment is with James Clark, who runs the Nomadic Notes website and focuses on heritage conservation and infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia.

As always, we end with Banh Mi Banter. We're taking next week off, so we'll be back on May 7.

Our first segment (1:28) evolved from a recent office conversation about which fruit deserves to be the national fruit of Vietnam. That debate revealed some rather controversial fruit-based opinions among our staff, so we've taken the argument to the airwaves to debate our favorites, from bottom to top tier.

Then (12:55), we call up our editor in Hanoi to discuss last week's launch of Urbanist Hanoi. What does our sister site hope to achieve, and what can we look forward to reading from the capital?

This week's interview segment (22:10) features Saigon Duo, who we mentioned in our conversation about contemporary Vietnamese literature from our fifth episode. The New York City-based pair of Duy Vo and Thao Bui are Saigon natives, and they discuss their writing and photography work, in addition to providing frank insight on their feelings of not belonging in either Vietnam, their homeland, or the United States, their adopted home.

Finally, we close with Banh Mi Banter (44:40).

In honor of Friday the 13th, we begin (1:36) with a chat about our favorite local urban legends and ghost stories, including a Shakespearean tale of separated lovers in Da Lat and the mysteries surrounding Saigon's Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School.

Then (11:03), we dig into a series of recent articles claiming that an 'anti-rich' sentiment is holding Vietnam's most successful businesspeople back. The country is home to some of the world's fastest wealth growth rates, in addition to four Forbes-listed billionaires. How has Vietnam traditionally viewed the rich, and is there anything to this theory?

Our extended interview segment (21:32) features a wide-ranging discussion on Cambodian rock & roll with LinDa Saphan, a Khmer researcher based in New York and associate producer of the 2015 documentary 'Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll.'

We've put together a Spotify playlist including many of the musicians mentioned during the conversation for your listening pleasure; just make sure you wait until you've finished this episode!

https://open.spotify.com/user/xkain8den802f078qmzkvuo73/playlist/4t6tjYdIKOHSqyYFAkHQw7?si=SOVObwogRJmGfxeum5yU-w

As always, we end with Banh Mi Banter (51:32).

We start with a conversation about local fire safety in the wake of last week's deadly apartment building fire in District 8, as well as a string of smaller blazes in recent days.

Then, we discuss Grab's acquisition of Uber's Southeast Asian operations. How might this impact everyday users?

Our interview segment features Melissa Merryweather, the director of Green Consult-Asia and chair of the Vietnam Green Building Council. She shares insight on what it takes to build 'green' in Vietnam, as well as some of the problems she has with Saigon's new high-rise residential projects.

As always, we end with Banh Mi Banter. Corgi butts are mentioned, so tune in for that.

Our first segment (1:12) covers several great youth-led projects that have highlighted traditional forms of Vietnamese art that would otherwise be largely forgotten. Examples include Ve Ve Hat Boi, a collective working to preserve the Vietnamese theater opera of hát bội; as well as an effort to digitalize the disappearing art of Hanoi's classic Hang Trong paintings (links below).

Then (8:51) we dig into foreign interpretations of Vietnamese food and whether they represent creativity or cultural appropriation.

In our interview segment (18:26) culinary expert and food writer Andrea Nguyen calls in from California. She helped bring Vietnamese cuisine into the American mainstream through her best-selling cookbooks. We chat about her background, the significance of her childhood cuisine becoming a global phenomenon, 'The Pho Cookbook' and whether the term "authentic" has a place in food writing.

As always, we close with Banh Mi Banter (45:15).

https://saigoneer.com/saigon-arts-culture/arts-culture-categories/12555-ve-ve-hat-boi-saving-vietnam%E2%80%99s-age-old-art-with-youthful-passion

https://saigoneer.com/saigon-arts-culture/arts-culture-categories/12378-preserving-hanoi-s-hang-trong-paintings-through-digitization

This week we covered Spotify's long-awaited launch in Vietnam and how this will change local listening habits, as well as the impact it could have on the Vietnamese music industry.

Then we dive into Vietnam's close cultural and economic ties with Japan. From Doraemon to manga and Saigon's first metro line, Japan's presence is impossible to miss here. But there are flaws in this relationship, as evidenced by recent news regarding Vietnamese workers in the Northeast Asian country.

Our interview is with Long Nguyen, an International Relations major at Tokyo International University and co-host of the Bento Bureau Podcast, which covers Japanese culture, history, and current events. We chatted over Skype about what draws so many Vietnamese students to Japan, as well as his experience living there. Find Long's show at bentobureau.com.

Finally, we end with Banh Mi Banter.