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Vinfast is Vietnam's only current domestic car manufacturer and part of the larger Vingroup of companies. Dennis and I go for a spin and cruise through the available information about the company.

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Stories of the Forest People (người rùng) were abound during the Vietnam (or American, depending on your perspective) War. Stories about these tall, powerful and hairy people stretched back to French colonial times. We hope Rolando Bautista found what he was looking for.

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Vaping is banned in Vietnam and we couldn't be happier!

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Home of the world's largest teepee

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I whine about how hard it is to find a job in my middling career amidst covid

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I don't remember what I said about school here

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The Bro has had a few misadventures with food...

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A few details I remembered later about Bob,

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Nothing crazy happened the first time I went down to Sin City. Mostly. That's a lie; Krusty was in charge.

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The most common surname for Viet people. Had to explain to an African federal employee that my ex's parents were not related, when we getting a social insurance number for her sister. He didn't believe me.

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Just reminiscing about when I found my favourite song. Spoilers: strippers are involved.

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The windiest place I ever lived. Sort of remote too, but beautiful. I even took the ex and her sister through there. We stopped at the world's biggest hoe in nearby Fort Assiniboine (I will not make the obvious joke about the ex, because I'm not as angry at her as I should be).

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Chúc mừng năm mới! We ring in the new year by denouncing nagas, learn about characteristics of people born in the year of the snake and rank a selection of those people. Remember, it's the Wood Snake this year.

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What happens when you put three boneheads together on a podcast? Listen and find out! 

Honestly, I don't remember much about that night, except we started off with a samosa controversy.

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Not all Viets are drug dealers. I've met my fair share though....

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Quick one about my parents.

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Dennis scaled the mountain and has made this palatable.  A triple header is coming with myself, Dennis and Beardsley clearing up the samosa controversy.

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Just a short one about mental time hoops. A little  hiatus as Dennis figures out the best way to clean up my junk recordings.

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Dennis pointed out y'all have no idea who am I or where I come from. So this is a slightly extended primer of me. Also more feeding of my ego.

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The first episode with double the chat, double the ridiculous. Thanks to Dennis for making this episode less of an amateur hour. Unfortunately, there will be some suffering as Jon's current backlog was recorded using a wireless headset, in one take, with no edits, because he is a lazy SOB.

Jon goofed and misremembered the value of the Scotch: $50,000 and not $25,000. Link to the video: https://youtu.be/EDS-InpmEnM

The source of Beardsley's name: https://youtu.be/RjpjGurFgAo. 

Fun fact we forgot to mention, Beardsley travelled with 2 of his cousins for a while and they made bets which one of them was going to be "randomly selected" for extra screening. Another fun fact related to air travel, Krusty got himself into trouble at an airport security checkpoint for bringing a pizza there. We'll elaborate on that one hopefully.

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(Exciting?) Changes coming

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Work I did in my first co-operative work term while at uni.

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An intro to my family

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Happy 2025! I learned many songs that I like in the Vietnamese repetoire are actually covers of Cantonese and Mandarin pop songs. In doing the research, I was surprised how some of these Chinese songs were in themselves covers or inspired by other songs (generally Japanese). I also learned how many famous bands started out as cover bands, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

PS: I feel validated, though I didn't know Như Quỳnh's rendition was a cover of  Faye Wong's cover song. Per Saigoneer: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ4EIVjj79Q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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You've probably known a guy like Bob.

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Don't snort this

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Welcome to the year of the Metal Ox. The linked wiki article provides great detail (including stuff I had no idea about or follow).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac

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Quick one about the 2021 Superbowl and ones I watched in the past.

PS: Correction, it was -33 degrees centigrade when I recorded this. 

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Something I remembered a while after recording the main episode.

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I realized I should have been be careful what I wished for.

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Good times at the gas bar

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The why of this mediocre thing

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Intro to the podcast

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Just a summary of what's to come in the next little white.

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Green gold with a black secret. Do you know where your food comes from? This episode we look at the similarities and differences in the avocado industry between Vietnam and Mexico.

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I came across more "MLB" stores and had unpolite thoughts I would like to share.

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Our airport shuttle driver had a lot to say about many things, including some tidbits about Capitalist Lan. Roads were a bit clogged up due to her second trial. SCB branches seemed to be open while I was there. Her trial to appeal her death sentence started at the time of this episode's publication.

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Roosters are nature's alarm clock. The problem is, you can't tell them when to wake you.

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Tao Dan park is one of the big green spaces in Saigon. It is mostly walled off from the huge flows of traffic that go around it. I found I quite like it, after using it for my daily old man walking circuit in 2023. In Tao Dan park there are:
- child and adult playgrounds,
- places where people put up nets to play badminton,
- walkers, joggers and runners,
- people meditating,
- people doing tai chi chuan,
- people filming movies while cooking the actors inside giant mascot suits alive,
- competing aerobic workout regimes,
- and wedding photos.

This track is based on one walking loop around the park. Please excuse the occasional coughing; I had a very terrible cold/bronchial infection that was going around at the time.

Part of a series of what you can hear around Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

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Nothing exciting, just a typical moped ride from District 1 (Saigon) to a neighbouring district during regular traffic. What you miss from just listening is the constant game of chicken everyone plays with each other with 99% success rate of living for both players. 

I have read and been told Saigon moped riders are insane.

Part of a series of what you can hear around Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

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Two Vietnamese have reached the highest heights, space. One under the USSR banner and under the Stars and Stripes. We have a chat about them, a failed back up pilot for the SRV cosmonaut and a failed attempt at having an F1 race in Vietnam.

PS: Amanda Nguyễn, an American social entrepreneur and civil rights activist (EN Wiki) was able to achieve her dream of reaching space on the Blue Origin New Shepard flight on April 14, 2025. This was after a devastating rape during her college years and due maliciousness or ineptitude in the legal system, her rapist was never charged and the evidence was destroyed. Amanda persevered, dedicated her life to social justice and has become the first Vietnamese woman to reach space. Unfortunately, her achievement was overshadowed by her co-passenger's [Katy Perry and Gayle King] actions and the media circus around it. A related article: https://joysauce.com/in-defense-of-amanda-nguyen-who-actually-did-something-on-the-blue-origin-flight/

PPS: The former last emperor of Việt Nam apparently like F1 or going to it because he was living high on the hog. Here is a photo of him attending the 6th F1 Italian Grand Prix after he abdicated the throne ending Nguyễn dynasty. https://www.instagram.com/p/DOge_Re3gLO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

PPPS (26 Sept 2025): "Alex Sawer Hoang Dat clinched the F4 Southeast Asia Championship, becoming the first Vietnamese to win a Formula-level title sanctioned by the FIA." He's 17, hope his future is bright. https://www.instagram.com/p/DPAnjUTjPFd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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I thought the rainy season ended after August, but that might just be true for the part of Vietnam where my dad is from. Jen tells me big heavy thunderstorms are normal in October.

Part of a series of what you can hear around Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

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From one of the hotels I stayed in, I heard a unique bird call. I have no idea what it is and I cannot find a non-Americas, non-European app for identification.

Part of a series of what you can hear around Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

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No Julie Andrew here. Dennis lays out his thoughts on “Vietnam’s” epic, the Tale of Kieu, a story of Confucian morals.

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We talk about the struggles about becoming a war chief and if there is an exchange rate between elephants and horses. 

A follow up to this episode is included at the start of the avocado episode.

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Just a ramble about the various Vietnamese gang members I’ve met over the years.

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We, to Dennis' chagrin, talk about Vietnam's most famous cuisine, phở (if I hear an Oh sound, I will hunt you down). It's origins are murky, but whether it be French, Chinese or a hybridization with local recipes, there's no denying it's significance. Ramen (a completely different type of soup, listen and learn), takes a back seat to this savoury bowl of noodles. 

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We delve into the SCB saga, the greatest criminal trial in Vietnam's, in SE Asia's history and the lady at the center of it all, Capitalist Lang (Trương Mỹ Lan). 

Post script: On June 6, Al Jazeera reports more charges were filed against Capital Lang for transferring $4.5 billion USD in and out of Vietnam (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/6/6/vietnam-tycoon-sentenced-to-death-could-face-new-charges-state-media-say).