In the summer of 1996, fresh out of college, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City for one simple reason: I loved Vietnamese food. At restaurants in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, I’d grown fond o [ … ]

As a foreigner coming to Hanoi for the first time, I have spent a day locating a bicycle shop and haggling about the price, but found it not easy to get one.

Culture does not only differ when it comes to food or traditional customs. Working in a foreign environment is often a greater challenge than trying exotic dishes.

There are a lot of things that can give a city an undeniable character. Cities can take on an energy so idiosyncratic that it is beyond recognition.

On my earlier boat trips from HCMC’s centre to outlying Nha Be, Cu Chi and Can Gio districts, or to neighboring provinces like Binh Duong and Dong Nai, to check out the latest tourist offeri [ … ]

Last week, Viet Nam News asked readers for their favourite memories of Tet holidays and questioned what they think of the suggestion that the country should celebrate Tet under the sola [ … ]

 With their "iron horses," a group of motorcycle taxi drivers have taken foreign visitors to every corner of the country.

A traveler finds himself facing the pre-dawn streets of Hanoi after a long train ride south from Sapa. An experience to enjoy or not?

A Pa Chai hamlet is well-known to travellers as the westpoint of Viet Nam and a junction between it, Laos and China. 

Explaining the traffic in Vietnam is an unreasonable expectation if your audience has never experienced it. After all, how do you explain a skyscraper to a mole?