Loading creator
Dana Filek-Gibson is a writer, editor, and communicator based in Brooklyn, New York. She previously lived in Saigon and misses Vietnam — and cà phê sữa đá — every single day.
108 stories
Vietnam
Arguably Vietnam’s most famous princess , Huyen Tran was born in 1287 to King Tran Nhan Tong and Queen Thien Cam, rulers of the Dai Viet kingdom . Throughout her childhood, Huyen Tran was your standard, run-of-the-mill royalty, but at 18, her father decided to strengthen Dai Viet-Champa relations by promising her hand in marriage to Champa king Che Man.
Saigon Hẻm Gems
I am a lifetime supporter of the sandwich.
Saigon Hẻm Gems
Just as rush hour traffic starts to pick up around me, motorbikes zipping back and forth down the wide alley, I send a message to my coworker.
Music & Arts
A beautiful large-scale recreation of a fortress, a photographic essay and a documentary video feature in Bui Cong Khanh’s latest exhibition, Dislocate , an impactful reminder of Vietnam’s heritage and intertwined cultures.
![[Videos] Hanoian Rappers Take Center Stage on Pan-Asian Music Platform](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/ErEVAwwb.jpg)
Music & Arts
Staring straight into the camera, Emcee L addresses his viewers with confidence.
Arts & Culture
There’s an hour to go before Fashion4Freedom unveils its latest collection and LanVy Nguyen is buzzing about, all smiles, in sneakers and a black-and-white embroidered áo dài .
![[Video] Formosa Responsible for Central Vietnam Fish Kill](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/wbglBwQb.jpg)
Stories
After much delay, the Vietnamese government held a press conference yesterday afternoon to announce the official cause of central Vietnam's mass fish death .
![[Video] Filmmaker Explores the Fading Tradition of Vietnamese Funeral Singers](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/4jCklutb.jpg)
Film & TV
Trapped among Vietnam's fast-fading cultural markers is its funereal music. Passed down for generations, these slow, melancholy songs are a mainstay at Vietnamese funerals, ushering the dead comfortably into the afterlife. As the saying goes: “The living need light, the dead need music.”
Saigon Hẻm Gems
You can really stretch a dollar in this country. That's two cà phê sữa đá or two bánh mì , a couple liters of bia hơi , a xe ôm ride, a well-bargained souvenir, enough snacks to constitute a meal or a steaming hot bowl of phở .
Saigon Hẻm Gems
The weather was truly Hanoian earlier this week. Outside, rain fell in sheets, flooding the pockmarked alley outside our office door. The sun had disappeared. Though a few particularly photo-obsessed teens continued to pose before the graffiti splashed across 3A Station's walls, most had given up and retreated to shops and cafes.
Saigon Hẻm Gems
You'll have to clear an afternoon to get to Baby African.
![[Video] Rapper Wowy Preserves a Piece of Saigon History in Music Video 'Do Tao Lam'](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/RiZPPn9b.jpg)
Music & Arts
Late last month, Saigon rapper Wowy debuted his “Do Tao Lam” music video, the first clip from his most recent album, Lao Dai .
Saigon Hẻm Gems
Saigon is, in essence, a giant food court. From District 1 to Binh Chanh, the city streets are pretty much a macro version of the cooked food section at your local market, spread out over miles of uneven sidewalk and cramped alley space. And in the great food court of the south, District 11's Ha Ton Quyen is where you go for sủi cảo .
![[Video] Hẻm Gems: D5's Drop-Dead Delicious Xôi Mặn](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/9QbDrlVb.jpg)
Saigon Hẻm Gems
Saigon street food tastes best when the whole experience feels like a secret. Head to some of the city's most successful street carts and there are no place names or proper business hours, no phone numbers, no signage, no menus. In almost mafia-like fashion, all you can do is show up during the designated window of time and hope to find food.
Saigon Hẻm Gems
Most days, I roll out of bed 15 minutes after my alarm has stopped ringing, stumble downstairs, brush my teeth and leave the house just in time to grab my morning dose of caffeine before heading to the office.
Vietnam
One especially hungry wild elephant caused a ruckus in the southern province of Dong Nai earlier this week.
![[Video] Hẻm Gems: D1's Not-So-Secret Snail-Grilling Operation](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/M6ol9XRb.jpg)
Saigon Hẻm Gems
At first glance, Oc Dao looks like a factory. A giant, secret snail-grilling operation tucked behind several twists and turns along a narrow downtown alley, where plates of fresh crustaceans are churned out one after the other and beer crates line the perimeter of the dining area.
Arts & Culture
It's mid-morning on a hot, humid Sunday in Saigon's Botanical Gardens, and the audience in front of the main stage represents an eclectic cross-section of Vietnamese society. Parents field phone conversations while watching their kids, teens and university students gather in groups, chatting and gossipping and taking pictures. A few artsy types loiter around the edges, as do a handful of foreigners.
![[Video] Hẻm Gems: The Merits of Chè Dim Sum](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/aP3egpcb.jpg)
Saigon Hẻm Gems
If we're being real, I would not break an appointment for chè .
![[Video] Hẻm Gems: The Lazy Man's Bánh Xèo](https://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/y6S0D5ub.jpg)
Saigon Hẻm Gems
I have a confession to make: my spring roll game is embarrassing.
Arts & Culture
Tawny brown, a few inches thick and secured with a cord, the leather binder lands on the bar with a thud. Midday sun beams into the pop-up whisky library atop Centec Tower, a room that could pass for the set of a James Bond film, and a smartly dressed Richie Fawcett unpacks his collection of drawings.
Saigon Hẻm Gems
If you've ever driven along Ton Duc Thang during rush hour, there's a strong chance you've almost run over a street food tout just north of the Le Thanh Ton-Nguyen Huu Canh intersection. While I have, for years, considered these people a menace to local traffic, it turns out they were right all along: down the alley behind them, there is food worth dying for.
Film & TV
For his first-ever feature film, Truong Minh Quy spent two months waiting around for it to rain.
Saigon Hẻm Gems
There are three kinds of people in this world: early birds, night owls and the perpetually tired. Try as I might to adapt, I am the third.