Tag: Vietnamese culture
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Sit down, drink some tea.
“Sit down, drink some tea.” Never was there such a dreaded phrase if I had a list of tasks to complete, and it’s a phrase I never encounter any more. When I lived in Vietnam, completing ordinary, everyday tasks was sometimes a huge challenge. Getting something fixed or trying to find the right item to…
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Burger King in Hanoi: The End is Near
A friend posted a selfie outside the newly opened BK at Hanoi Noi Bai Airport. Globalization is complete. My Vietnam is dead. I arrived at Noi Bai Airport for the first time on a dark, stormy night in August 1994. My wife, 15 month old daughter, and I were picked up at the airport by…
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Crispy Vietnamese Noodles and a Memory
As you might know, I live in Penang, Malaysia. I used to live in Vietnam. Not much Vietnamese food in Penang, unfortunately, but plenty of other great cuisine. I was at my favorite hawker stalls the other day (for you locals, we call it “Lucky 99”) and my wife ordered a dish from a Chinese…
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A Simple Way to Compare and Understand Eastern and Western Culture
I was eating at some outdoor food stalls the other day – you know, the kind I can never get enough of – and we saw it, right outside the food stalls, a dad holding his son’s hand as the young boy peed into the rain gutter. Honestly, I don’t see this nearly as much…
Author Mark W Sasse 