Outside Viet

Send us a text 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.

Send us a text 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.

Send us a text September 2, 1945 (Hanoi). Hồ Chí Minh declares the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Tuyên ngôn độc lập Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa) at the Ba Đình square. This is a major milestone on Vietnam's journey to freeing itself from French colonization and ultimately becoming a free and independent country. The shape that Vietnam would take came from decades more strife and pain. PS: Chris Tran, a significant Việt creator on instagram, posted a celebration message for...

Send us a text A question few have asked is, how many Vietnamese have ever gone to the coldest reaches our world, away from the typical hot and humid climate of Vietnam. Bear with us, as Dennis and I explore the questions while making our rounds to both ends of the Earth. Link to the news article about the Vietnamese living on the remote Alaskan islands: https://youtu.be/8oTmyQp-qAA?si=QcVaBdToW4-SlhCe

Send us a text Smelly, salty, savory, the life blood of the Vietnamese, Thais and other southeast Asian peoples. Also a few folks from China, Korea and Japan. We touch upon this crucial condiment in this episode.

Send us a text Forget the other lists you ever seen (I looked at most of them), this is the real list of what I think are the worst food (or food categories). Don't think for a second these aren't foods! They are popular for different people. As a bonus, we included some whack foods from neighbouring countries. And Dennis has found out about century eggs (Trứng vịt bắc thảo) and their long partnership with congee. Now who wants to eat some live octupi (thanks Korea)!

Send us a text Is Lý Long Tường (Yi Yong-sang) one of Vietnam's greatest exports to Korea? The Grand Tutor, a general who defeated Mongols invaders twice, showing that it was not just the Trần in Đại Việt who could get it done. The progenitor of the Hwasan Lee clan, his influence has stretched across the centuries.

Send us a text Reunification. An innocuous word in general, a dirty word for many overseas Vietnamese. In light of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam being reunified on April 30, 1975 (whether some choose to accept it or not, the reality is that Vietnam is unified as a Socialist Republic), these are some stories from my parents, before and after this seminal event. Many of these memories are fragments that surfaced in the mind of my parents across the years. Often times, neither wants to remembe...

Send us a text During this 161 year rivalry, the figurehead Lê emperor watches helplessly as two prominent families who helped reclaim the throne from the Mạc usurpers, vie for power. A prelude to the later division of Vietnam in the 20th century, the two halves of Vietnam (at the time Đại Việt or Great Viet) would continue to march forward, or in the case of the Nguyễn, march south, into history until the Tây Sơn uprising. Who was the winner amongst these cousins? Let's hash it out.

Send us a text Vaping is banned in Vietnam and we couldn't be happier!

Send us a text 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.

Send us a text 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 Wo...

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

Send us a text It got weird going from being the hidden middle child to being the oldest. I am the oldest biological child of my parents. Like Catelyn Stark, my mom hated this adopted child, though he did earn some of it. It gets complicated when you're uprooted from the home you know, ripped away from your bio mom and siblings and get taken to a frozen land. I wasn't sure what he was up to of late, but the old man met up with him in Nam.

Send us a text I never fulfilled the Viet stereotype in Canada, but I surprisingly met a number of people who did. PS - I was told viet folks will move to edmonton, calgary, saskatoon, etc. from vancouver / toronto, to escape heat from the police there

Send us a text I've tied on a few and can count the number of blackouts I remember on one hand! PS: Redux of Season 1, Episode 7 "Slightly darker black (out)".

Send us a text I used to watch professional hockey. No one in my family ever did. I don't know why or how I started, but I enjoyed it (also MLB when the Jays won back to back world series. Yes, I am a wagon hopper). The desire to watch took many blows over the years. It wasn't even because of the decline in the 90s with the VCR line or early 2010s drought (to be fair 2006 was a miracle and inspiring). I've become one of those guys who just doesn't care anymore. Ironic, because I met guy...

Send us a text Some random notes from my 76 (actually 6, no Dennis, I'm telling the truth) trips to Vietnam. Also a way to segue into our follow up podcast series about Vietnam.

Send us a text I have no rhythm, I have no melody. It wasn't for lack of trying to learn a couple of instruments when I was younger and more daring.

Send us a text If you're lucky, you'll have good grandparents who spoil you. If you're luckier, they'll still be alive. Just thoughts on my dead grandparents, especially my grandma, who I actually met.