Today’s guest is Nguyen Khac Giang, a Visiting Fellow at the Vietnam Studies Programme of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. He’s a repeat guest as well and joined me for a similar year-end conversation in 2024.

We covered the administrative restructuring and its broad impacts, increasing private sector involvement in the economy and infrastructure, General Secretary Tô Lâm’s foreign policy and the move away from ‘bamboo diplomacy,’ the rise of the military and police in business, and the upcoming National Party Congress.

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Today’s guest is Chris Tran, a content creator, a Vietnamese language educator, and more. We discussed the storm relief fundraising campaign he is a part of, how such campaigns are perceived, the resilience of people here, his work with The Ba Lô Project supporting Vietnamese deported by the Trump administration, the importance of preserving the Vietnamese language, and more.

Donate to typhoon relief efforts here.

Learn more about The Ba Lô Project here.

Follow Chris on Instagram to see more about his community work.

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Today’s guest is Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen, author of ‘Vietnam: The Cookbook,’ which features 445 recipes from across Vietnam, including dishes from ethnic minority groups. Phaidon is releasing the book this Wednesday, October 22. She’s also the founder of Yeshi, the casual Taiwanese restaurant with two locations in HCMC that some listeners are likely familiar with.

We talked about Anaïs’s culinary background, how she came to work on the cookbook, learning over 400 recipes while traveling across Vietnam to access the country’s incredibly diverse cuisine, splitting time between working on the book and running a restaurant, and more.

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Today’s guest is Elizabeth Ai, writer and director of the documentary New Wave. We discussed the deeply personal nature of the project; how New Wave music provided a safe space for young people who didn’t consider themselves fully Vietnamese, but also weren’t fully accepted by America; the rewarding challenges of producing the movie through the pandemic and having her first child; and more.

Follow New Wave on Instagram for updates on screenings and streaming availability.

The Curious Subculture of Vietnamese New Wave (Saigoneer)

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Today’s guest is Vân Vương, Saigon Children’s Head of Fundraising & Communication and a key organizer of the upcoming U-GO Far: Vietnam - Cambodia Cycle 2025. The first edition of the ride, held last December in partnership with U-GO and ISF Cambodia, raised over US$50,000 for female students in Cambodia in Vietnam.

We discussed the U-Go program and Saigon Children’s involvement, the first U Go Far charity ride last year and Van’s experience as both an organizer and participant, meeting scholarship recipients along the way, ensuring transparency during a fundraising campaign, goals for the second ride in November, and more.

Related links:

The Evolution of Charity Work in Vietnam (Vietnam Weekly Podcast)

Helping the Disadvantaged During Lockdown (Vietnam Weekly Podcast)

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Today’s guest is Joshua Zukas, a travel writer who has been based in Vietnam for over a decade, writing guidebooks, creating audio tours, and contributing stories to publications like The Economist. His latest Vietnam guidebook, for Bradt Guides, will be published later this month.

We discussed the process of writing a comprehensive guidebook on such a fast-changing country; unique aspects of the book, such as its focus on Vietnamese myths; the risks of overtourism in places like Hoi An and Sa Pa; favorite lesser-known spots to visit; and more.

Join the waitlist for Joshua’s guidebook to get 25% off the physical or digital version, and check out his website for more examples of his writing.

Related links:

Tourism is breaking records in Vietnam. Is that all it’s breaking? (Adventure.com)

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Today’s guest is Daniël Stork, the outgoing Consul General of the Netherlands in Ho Chi Minh City.

We discussed the tight economic relationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands, the EU’s largest foreign investor here; the shared water-related challenges the countries face thanks to their river deltas; major takeaways from his four years in the country; reflections on the art and LGBTQ communities; and more.

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Today’s guest is Celine Ventalon, CEO and founder of Émer, the menstrual underwear company based in Ho Chi Minh City.

We discussed what menstrual underwear is and how it can benefit both women and sustainability efforts, the reasons why she created Émer, social and workplace stigmas that her team is working to address, how they approach the owners of factories with majority female workforces, women’s health awareness-raising efforts at schools, and more.

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Today’s guest is Rich McClellan, Founder & Principal of RMAC Advisory and former country director of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in Vietnam. He’s an expert in public policy, investment, and economic reform across emerging markets.

We covered The Economist’s much-discussed recent cover story on Vietnam, the country’s international finance center ambitions, Resolution 68 and its focus on the domestic private sector, the ongoing government restructuring and provincial merger, semiconductor ambitions, and the genuinely exciting place that Vietnam finds itself in at the moment.

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Today’s guest is Michael Rosen, the principal founder of Vietnam’s first independent whisky distillery, Về Để Đi.

We discussed Về Để Đi’s background and why he pursued making whisky, what single malt means, the response to building a Vietnamese whisky brand and the growing prominence of brands from other non-traditional markets like Taiwan, the biggest surprises - good and bad - so far, the process of using local ingredients such as Vietnam’s first barley, their win at the recent World Whiskies Awards, and more.

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