Tag Archives: Vietnam
This Transgender Bodybuilder is Crushing Barriers in Vietnam
(Narratively, November 2016) Photography by Vinh Dao As a conservative country’s LGBTQ community finally finds its voice, one athlete fights for the right to compete as his true self in a hyper-masculine sport. It’s Sunday morning in Ho Chi Minh City. Blistering heat is vaporizing last night’s downpour on the streets of District 7, an upscale area southeast of the city center and popular with expats. […]
Good vibrations: the Vietnamese inventor helping the blind to ‘see’
(Southeast Asia Globe, October 2016) Nguyen Ba Hai has developed haptic technology that helps the blind and visually impaired navigate the world around them, all while managing to stave off corporate interests and attract international praise Photography by Vinh Dao When Nguyen Ba Hai graduated from a Korean university with a PhD in biorobotics, he […]
Vietnam wakes up to its human trafficking problem
(IRIN News, September 2016) Human trafficking is on the rise in Vietnam, although poor crime statistics means the government doesn’t know exactly by how much. Advocacy groups say victims are increasingly being lured on social media. Between 2011 and 2014, the number of human trafficking cases rose by at least 11.6 percent over the previous […]
The Last Days of the Mekong Snake Hunters
(Roads and Kingdoms, August 2016) Trampling through thick vegetation off a remote trail near the southeastern coast of Vietnam, Ba looks back, grinning boyishly, and then dives into a wall of green. All morning, the 36-year-old snake hunter had been taciturn, guarded, but now, under a scorching midday sun in the Mekong Delta, he’s suddenly […]
Saigon: the next Silicon Valley?
(AsiaLIFE cover, May 2016) Saigon is attracting the attention of the world’s largest high-tech corporations and is becoming home to thousands of startup companies, prompting people to ask, could this chaotic city of a developing nation become the next Silicon Valley? By Lorcan Lovett. Main photo by Vinh Dao. About 20 yellow-shirted motorbike riders are […]
Fast and Frustrated: Saigon Drift
(AsiaLIFE, March 2016) Lorcan Lovett buckles up for a drive with Vietnam’s ‘Drift King’ to learn about the trend for modified cars in the country. Photo by Vinh Dao. Dusk has obscured the Saigon River into a black, empty road as we pull away from a sparse patch of District 2’s dockland. A day spent with Vietnam’s Fast […]
Hops and Dreams
(AsiaLIFE cover, February 2016) Craft beer has been ruffling the feathers of the big corporations for some years, and now the seeds for a showdown have been planted in Vietnam. Lorcan Lovett talks to the pioneering brewers leading the campaign for better tasting tipples. Photos by Vinh Dao. Until two years ago, beer drinkers in Vietnam searching […]
Serving up Success
(AsiaLIFE, February 2016) A charity in Hoi An gives some of the poorest youngsters in Vietnam the skills they need for high-flying careers in the hospitality sector. With a new base in Saigon on the cards, Lorcan Lovett talks to its founder, Neal Bermas, about the inspiring work at STREETS International. Lifelong traveller and hotel consultant […]
Crocodiles bite back in Vietnam
(AsiaLIFE, January 2016) Commercial crocodile farming in Vietnam has soared since its introduction 30 years ago, with most of the activity taking place in the Mekong. Lorcan Lovett visits one of Saigon’s largest farms to explore the reptiles’ story. On 29 September 2012, the bulky body of a Siamese crocodile was found floating in Ea […]
Warming up to Uncle Sam
(AsiaLIFE cover, November 2015) Twenty years ago the US and Vietnam agreed to normalise relations. Lorcan Lovett looks at the extraordinary partnership formed by the two countries since then. Photos by Vinh Dao. There was a time when former US Marine Reginald Carnes, 66, and former Viet Cong fighter Be Tu, 67, were sworn enemies. Both […]
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