The Bureau Podcast

Join Matt, Mel & Andy talking superstitions, Pizza Hut and Vietnam's own Pizza 4Ps in Cambodia, the Nas Daily backlash in the Philippines, and what it's like trying to make a living in Vietnam as an influencer or content creator.

All that and more on Vietnam's award-winning podcast.

Also on: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebureauasia

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheBureauGroup

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebureauasia

Website: https://thebureauasia.com

Join our growing Discord Community:

https://discord.gg/QFmUkUsWJu

Some restaurants and bars in Ho Chi Minh City are offering vouchers as an alternative form of cash flow during forced closures - good idea or not? Meanwhile, one of our favourite neighbourhoods in District 1 is but a shadow of its former self. Our new co-host AT has flip flops on the ground there and he provides a grim-looking snapshot of the alleyway in which he lives. As this is all going on, Aussies in Vietnam are divided over the Australian Embassy's stance on accessibility to Covid-19 vaccines, and both Mel and AT call out tone deafness on social media at a time when discretion is probably the best policy.

All that and more on Vietnam's award-winning podcast.

Also on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebureauasia

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebureauasia

Website: https://thebureauasia.com

Join our growing Discord Chat:

https://discord.gg/QFmUkUsWJu

The history of Vietnam's largest city has had as many twists and turns as a best-selling thriller. The truth it seems really is stranger than fiction. How did a small group of river pirates led by a man who would become a national hero, emerge from the swamps south of Saigon to become a fully-fledged army fighting for independence against the French?

For more information and stories about Vietnam, visit thebureauasia.com

The history of Vietnam's largest city has had as many twists and turns as a best-selling thriller. The truth it seems really is stranger than fiction. How did a small group of river pirates led by a man who would become a national hero, emerge from the swamps south of Saigon to become a fully-fledged army fighting for independence against the French?    

For more information and stories about Vietnam, visit thebureauasia.com

This is my entry for the 2021 My RODE Cast competition!

It's a 2-minute teaser for my Blood Debt episode about the legend of a small neighbourhood in central Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Give it a listen, and if you like it, support me by voting for it at myrodecast.com/listen

The full episode can be found HERE

Wish me luck!

1975 and Vietnam was finally at peace and reunified after centuries of fighting for its independence. The victors set about renaming every street and neighbourhood in the former South after national heroes and significant others who helped create and defend the nation. This is how Ho Chi Minh City got its name. Today, in the city centre, there's a small neighbourhood named after a young South Vietnamese university student from the Mekong Delta called Nguyen Thai Binh who at the height of ant-war demonstrations in the United States became a beacon for peace on its university campuses across the country. But he was stripped of his scholarship and sent home to South Vietnam to face the music as a result of what he stood for. This is one of the few known stories about a man who stood for peace at a time when it was deadly to do so. What happened to him? 

For more information and stories about Vietnam, visit thebureauasia.com

The charming seaside town of Vung Tau is just a 2-hour drive or ferry ride from Ho Chi Minh City and is typically regarded as a place just to get away from the city for the weekend to enjoy the fresh sea breeze and ocean views. But, in fact, it's little known that Vung Tau is actually one of the best destinations in Vietnam for foodies. 

In this episode, your host, Matt, introduces you to 5 of the best 'no name' joints to eat local Vietnamese food that you can only find if you're "in the know!"

By the end of this podcast you'll be in the know, too!

Find out where some of the best snails can be found under a tree on the corner of a T-intersection that many of the locals don't even know about, or the place where a banh xeo lady spins up to four woks at a time and looks like a DJ spinning tunes at their decks, and discover what the odd looking creature is in a piping hot bowl of bun be be.

That and more in this tasty little episode that's educational, fun and downright mouth-watering.

If you'd like more info on the places featured in this episode, visit thebureauasia.com for the complete article, including pictures and video for each dish! 

Vũng Tàu, a beachside town approximately 100km southeast of Hồ Chí Minh City (Vietnam's biggest city), is often left off the itineraries of international travellers and dismissed by expats as a seedy getaway for men wanting to escape the city to get up to no good behind closed doors. 

But as Matt and Mel discuss, Vũng Tàu deserves more respect. It's long been loved by the Vietnamese for beach holidays and has arguably one of Vietnam's tastiest foodie scenes, after all, it's regarded as the home of bánh khọt, everybody's favourite little deep-fried snack.

It also has a rich history. Vũng Tàu's name has changed multiple times, it once harboured Malay pirates tracking the busy trade routes that ran up and down Vietnam's east coast, the Portuguese popped by for a bit, along with the French, and there's been a sizeable Russian community living here for decades. 

And to top it off, the fisherfolk worship whales. 

Playlist

00:00 - 01: 55 Intro

01:55 - 08: 03 The basics about Vũng Tàu (getting there, weather, lifestyle & sights)

08:07 - 12:37  A brief history

12:41 - 22:36  Food

22:41 - 26: 58 Cool discoveries (an ocean view cafe, a pool by the beach & a mega Club Sandwich)

27: 02 - 38:48 Whale worshipping & the small fishing village of Phước Hải

38: 53 - End (41:31)

For more about the places, addresses & locations Matt visited in this episode, be sure to check out:

Website:  https://thebureauasia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebureauasia

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheBureauGroup

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebureauasia

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH9Y7j-cBFe9rWNHtVCArEg

Follow Matt:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matt.cowan.127/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattcowansaigon

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2beIeu-y4Z33mnKqE5u6cg (coming soon!)

Follow Mel: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melaniecasul

The Bureau Podcast theme & bumper by Lionel Valdellon at http://acid42.com

In this long-awaited return of The Bureau Podcast after a lengthy hiatus, The Chief (Matt Cowan) gets Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam editor-at-large Chris Thompson on the blower who tells us whether or not his predictions came true for Vietnam hospitality trends during this weird and unpredictable era of COVID-19. Chris also reveals what F&B trends are emerging and are likely to become a “thing” moving into 2021, and he tells us about one place Saigoners really must visit, especially while international tourists for the moment are absent. After that, we deep-dive into the prickly and controversial world of influencer marketing, celebrities, content creators and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram with The Bureau’s own content manager Melanie Casul who also happens to lecture on digital marketing at RMIT Vietnam in Saigon. She enlightens us on what digital marketing actually is, points out the amount of tiers (no, not tears) of influencers there are and what they constitute, including at the same time letting Matt down gently once he comes to the realisation that he’s not a micro-influencer at all and perhaps just scrapes in as a nano-influencer - either way, he's at the bottom of the heap! Beers are never too far from the microphones during the recording of any Bureau Podcast and this time is no different. Matt and Mel blind taste a couple of locally-made craft frothies, Pasteur Street Brewing Co's Pomelo IPA and a newcomer to the scene, Mix Tape’s Peaches & Cream IPA. Somehow after that, they manage to get through Get Excited where they tell each other which venue in Saigon has got them excited, before finishing off with the cheeky new fun segment Insta-worthless, where Matt calls out a couple of Instagram accounts for their whacked updates that you would never be able to come up with in a million years! Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, stop, pop the top off a cold one, sit down and enjoy the listen.

With the biggest public health crisis we’ve confronted this century playing out, it's forced us indoors for the foreseeable future. Governments are demanding that we stay home and leave only for essential purposes like grocery shopping or medical checkups.

Schools have been closed for most of the year in Vietnam, students aren’t likely to return until at least June and workers in non-essential industries have either been stood down or are required to work from home until further notice.

As this existential threat to our health and livelihoods is mostly seen as coming from beyond the four walls of our homes, what about the impact it’s having within them?

To find out, I spoke to health and fitness professional Phil Kelly, the founder and master trainer of Body Expert Systems based in Ho Chi Minh City.

We ask Phil the following questions:

1. What impact has COVID-19 had on the health and fitness industry in Vietnam?

2. How quickly do you believe the industry will bounce back and why?

3. How have you adapted your program/s to the restrictions that have been put in place?

4. What advice and activities do you have to keep us moving?

5. Are there any online challenges that we should just simply avoid?