The lower Mekong River is in its fourth year of drought, with low rainfall, climate change, and hydroelectric dams causing the worst conditions in over six decades, endangering the livelihoods of up to 70 million people. Vietnam, the last downstream country before the Southeast Asian river empties into the South China Sea, is no exception when it comes to water shortage. It is not as simple as turning the tap off to save water, but also the strategy and techniques involved in growing rice to ensure food security. Besides, how much of the decision making process in water management is dominated ..read more

March 15 was a much anticipated date in Vietnam. You can almost hear the collective relief when the government finally resumed inbound tourism on that day after two years of border closure. Tourism sector accounted for about 10% of the GDP before the pandemic and most of that came from inbound tourism so it was quite a big deal. But is it entirely positive news? How are industry players going to use this milestone and essentially this entire pandemic to transform an industry that does not exactly have a reputation for being sustainable? In this episode with Vietnam and Boba, behind the headlin ..read more

There are at least 23 criteria a Vietnamese man has to meet to be considered a real man, according to the first large-scale study on men and masculinities in Vietnam published in 2020 by Hanoi-based Institute for Social Development Studies. What are these criteria that are widely accepted in Vietnam? And what is their effect on Vietnamese men's wellbeing and gender equality? We talk to Hoang Giang Son, a prominent leader in the LGBT community in Vietnam and former Gender Justice specialist at The Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) in Hanoi and Nguyen Phuong Tu, fo ..read more

Tet is Vietnam's most important holiday. It is more than just a one-time blowout like new year celebrations in many Western countries. It’s a seven-day festivity charged with symbolism that sees a combination of religious rituals, secular and social customs.  But beyond traditions, this episode tries to complement the conversation about what makes Tet special with the downsides of it as an evolving tradition. We spoke to three Vietnamese from vastly different walks of life and their own unique takes on Tet. A soon-to-be mom who has not spent Tet with her family for five years, a Vietnames ..read more

Long before any big-shot pledges were signed and promises were made at COP26, many environment changemakers have been taking action and exerting influence in their own communities. Behind the headlines - we are bringing you first-hand accounts of two environment frontliners, one from northern rural Vietnam and the other from southern urban Vietnam with two vastly different backgrounds and drastically different approaches but sharing a common value.  If you like our work, please consider supporting it! Running an independent project of this length and depth is difficult, but we want to be ..read more

While most of the current ‘new normal' discourse has been about the economic recovery, resumed movement and vaccine acceleration, little about the impact of the pandemic on Vietnamese mental health has been discussed. How have people managed? Or not? How does a country that has typically been distant itself from mental health discourse survive these issues going forward? Because this episode contains materials that may be upsetting to some audiences, your discretion is advised. Your mental health is important to us.  If you like our work, please consider supporting it! Running an independ ..read more

What we do on our show is to confront how little is known and understood about Vietnam. We look at the people, events and forces that shape Vietnam what it is today. From important issues like migration, climate change, to Covid-19, we hope the show will help you learn something new about Vietnam, expand the conversation about it at an international level a little bit and perhaps even challenge the pre-assumptions about the country, people and culture. We call it Vietnam and Boba because, well, first of all, it sounds pretty catchy. But really it means to tell you that we, as in the people who ..read more

The lower Mekong River is in its fourth year of drought, with low rainfall, climate change, and hydroelectric dams causing the worst conditions in over six decades, endangering the livelihoods of up to 70 million people. Vietnam, the last downstream country before the Southeast Asian river empties into the South China Sea, is no exception when it comes to water shortage. It is not as simple as turning the tap off to save water, but also the strategy and techniques involved in growing rice to ensure food security. Besides, how much of the decision making process in water management is dominated ..read more

March 15 was a much anticipated date in Vietnam. You can almost hear the collective relief when the government finally resumed inbound tourism on that day after two years of border closure. Tourism sector accounted for about 10% of the GDP before the pandemic and most of that came from inbound tourism so it was quite a big deal. But is it entirely positive news? How are industry players going to use this milestone and essentially this entire pandemic to transform an industry that does not exactly have a reputation for being sustainable? In this episode with Vietnam and Boba, behind the headlin ..read more

There are at least 23 criteria a Vietnamese man has to meet to be considered a real man, according to the first large-scale study on men and masculinities in Vietnam published in 2020 by Hanoi-based Institute for Social Development Studies. What are these criteria that are widely accepted in Vietnam? And what is their effect on Vietnamese men's wellbeing and gender equality? We talk to Hoang Giang Son, a prominent leader in the LGBT community in Vietnam and former Gender Justice specialist at The Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) in Hanoi and Nguyen Phuong Tu, fo ..read more