Anyone who’s spent time in northern Vietnam is familiar with thuoc lao–a type of very strong tobacco that is smoked in a bamboo bong.
We have rented a shack in An Bang Fishing Village, a few kilometers from Hoi An in Central Vietnam. Just an empty field lies
A xe om (motorbike taxi driver) just delivered a bag of Ngu Chau – a bush used in steambaths as a traditional Vietnamese sinusitis cure.
As we’re waiting to start the Year of the Snake, I seem to be living in the Year of the Frog. This adorable little tree
Christmas is coming to Saigon, where it’s hot, sunny and the only snow in sight comes out of a can… Tweet...
Ho Chi Minh City is built on a swamp. As more and more land gets built up, the weight of construction is causing the ground
One of the most interesting parts of writing a story is researching its era and setting. I’ve been working on a plot set in the
Yesterday, my five-year-old son announced that it’d be Christmas “in two days”. While his timing is off, it IS already October, which means that 2012
After this photo of a guy driving a motorbike with one foot while texting on a Hanoi highway went viral, police actually managed to track
My bilingual Vietnam-themed picture books, Vietnam A to Z and 1,2,3 Vietnam!, are now stocked by Vietnam’s major bookshops. The easiest place to find them
