Making engaging content during a pandemic, not to mention a 24/7 lockdown with a curfew, can be challenging to say the least.
But one way we worked our way around it at The Bureau Asia over the past few months was to record regular podcasts.
Now we have 10 of them!
Ranging from topics such as how Covid-19 is affecting Ho Chi Minh City to the future of travel in Vietnam to the impact changes by social media giants will have on content creators like us, The Bureau Podcast will have something for you.
Whether on your daily commute or killing time waiting for friends, pop the ear buds in and listen in to Matt, Mel and Andy as they give their take on life in Vietnam’s best city!
Episodes
3 things to entice us back to HCMC bars, Fb & Insta updates & food trends in Vietnam
Bars and restaurants are beginning to reopen in Ho Chi Minh City, so Matt, Mel & Andy discuss what it will take for establishments to entice them out of their homes.
Also, Facebook and Instagram are tweaking vanity metrics, so what does this mean for influencers and content creators?
Then, food trends in Ho Chi Minh City over the past couple of years – which ones are legit and which ones are simply taking the piss?!
Ho Chi Minh City opens up, social media mythbusting & Vietnamese stereotypes
Now that Ho Chi Minh City has slowly begun to open up allowing double-vaxed citizens to leave their homes and travel across districts, we finally get to have co-host Andy Tran in the room for the first time ever!
We talk about Ho Chi Minh City’s remarkable Covid-19 turnaround that’s seen it go from hard lockdown with a 24/7 curfew one week, to bars and restaurants being allowed to open in District 7 the next.
In a slightly controversial segment, we call out some headlines and social media updates by influential people that we deem to be simply untrue, and then follow it up with a handful of stereotypes about Vietnamese people that will surely make the snowflakes among us melt.
Ho Chi Minh City unlocked, Saigon Zoo & promoting Vietnam
Now that Ho Chi Minh City has slowly begun to open up allowing double-vaxed citizens to leave their homes and travel across districts, we finally get to have co-host Andy Tran in the room for the first time ever!
We talk about Ho Chi Minh City’s remarkable Covid-19 turnaround that’s seen it go from hard lockdown with a 24/7 curfew one week, to bars and restaurants being allowed to open in District 7 the next.
In a slightly controversial segment, we call out some headlines and social media updates by influential people that we deem to be simply untrue, and then follow it up with a handful of stereotypes about Vietnamese people that will surely make the snowflakes among us melt.
The hard social distancing measures that have kept Ho Chi Minh City residents confined to their homes for the past two months have finally been lifted.
Matt, Mel and Andy talk about what they can and can’t do until the next directive. Meanwhile, the private company that manages Saigon Zoo has asked both the public and the local government for funding to keep one of the world’s oldest zoos open.
Then they have a go at creating a short ad each in an attempt to entice foreigners to come to Vietnam to live.
Backpackers not welcome in Vietnam anymore? (includes interview with Dr Nuno Ribeiro)
A recent online magazine ranking of the best cities in the world inspires Matt, Mel & Andy to come up with a list of 9 Best Streets in Ho Chi Minh City to visit, which is then followed by a wide-ranging discussion on the value of backpackers in Vietnam and whether they should be encouraged to return as soon as travel restrictions ease.
A highlight is the expert comments and opinion by Dr Nuno Ribeiro, a senior lecturer and leading researcher in tourism and hospitality at RMIT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, who sheds light on the narrative at all levels regarding the arguments for and against their return.
Millennial slang, 9/11, Ho Chi Minh City news & dream trips in the Philippines & Vietnam
Our resident Millennial, Andy, gives Gen-Xers Matt and Mel a quick lesson on language they’re clearly too old for in a lighthearted segment that includes their suggestions for 2021’s Word of the Year before they tone things down to remember the tragedy of 9/11 – 20 years on since the terrorist attacks in the US that shook the world.
In this segment they recall what they were doing at the very moment the World Trade Centre twin towers collapsed, which is followed by a quiz featuring some of the world’s most historical moments.
As usual there’s an update on Ho Chi Minh City news and its Covid-19 situation, including a discussion on the potential issues confronting venues and patrons once bars and restaurants reopen.
Wrapping up the show is a segment for anyone who’s missing travel in which some truly unique experiences in the Philippines are revealed, followed by Matt, Mel and Andy’s dream trips in Vietnam they want to take once road trips are allowed again.
The future of travel in Vietnam (includes interview with Dr Nuno Ribeiro)
Vietnam remains under 24/7 curfew, and with caseloads increasing, there appears to be no end in sight for the pandemic.
Yet, amid this gloomy forecast, some hope for those of us confined to our homes has emerged as the Prime Minister implies via the media that lockdowns can’t go on forever and that the country needs to move on.
We also interview Dr Nuno Ribeiro, a senior lecturer and leading researcher in tourism and hospitality at RMIT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, about the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on travel businesses in Vietnam, including what steps will be taken to open up a travel industry that reported approximately US$33 billion in tourism revenue in 2019 but is now in tatters.
Men in uniform, US Vice President hits Hanoi, expats divided over vaccine & unusual burgers
While US Vice President Kamala Harris visited Hanoi this week with very little fanfare, the same can’t be said of Vietnam’s military who landed in Ho Chi Minh City to manage the city’s Covid-19 crisis.
In a true act of winning the hearts and minds of the citizens – especially the hearts – the boys in green lit up social media in Vietnam’s biggest town with steaming images of them topless sorting out rations on the streets and in warehouses.
Tiktokers, both straight and not, city-wide hoped that the eventual knock at their front door would be from the scantily-clad footslogger of their dreams delivering essential goodies and saving the day from evil.
Meanwhile, this rollicking episode wraps up with a tasty chat about what unusual Vietnamese ingredient Matt, Mel and Andy would like to see in a burger.
Ho Chi Minh City’s migrant worker exodus, Phu Quoc travel bubble, historic Saigon & a pirate story
Matt, Mel & Andy provide fresh updates on Ho Chi Minh City’s increasing Covid-19 caseload, how the current curfew from 6pm to 6am is affecting the city, and what can be expected with the latest announcement that from August 23, the city will be under curfew 24/7 indefinitely with the military in place to ensure everything goes to plan.
Despite arguably the strictest lockdown on the planet, Vietnam is still playing with the idea of a travel bubble agreement with other countries and has earmarked Phu Quoc as a possible destination.
Meanwhile, the old Saigon was in the news again this week with images of the US military’s withdrawal from Kabul conjuring up reminders of its withdrawal from Saigon almost 50 years ago.
Off the back of that, each of the crew recommend a historic place in Vietnam to visit once travel is open again.
Friday the 13th Special
Join Matt, Mel & Andy talking superstitions, Pizza Hut and Vietnam’s own Pizza 4Ps in Cambodia, the Nas Daily backlash in the Philippines, and what it’s like trying to make a living in Vietnam as an influencer or content creator.
Ho Chi Minh City news, silence in the Nguyen Thai Binh neighbourhood & tone deafness on social media
Some restaurants and bars in Ho Chi Minh City are offering vouchers as an alternative form of cash flow during forced closures – good idea or not?
Meanwhile, one of our favourite neighbourhoods in District 1 is but a shadow of its former self. Our new co-host Andy has flip flops on the ground there and he provides a grim-looking snapshot of the alleyway in which he lives.
As this is all going on, Aussies in Vietnam are divided over the Australian Embassy’s stance on accessibility to Covid-19 vaccines, and both Mel and Andy call out tone deafness on social media at a time when discretion is probably the best policy.
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