Discover Vietnam: A Vietnam Podcast

“I never thought I was going to have kids here… that wouldn’t have even crossed my mind.” — Claire Simpson

This episode with Claire really opened my eyes to a side of Vietnam I’ve never personally experienced but have always been curious about — what it’s actually like to be an expat parent here. I've interviewed entrepreneurs, creatives, teachers, founders… but motherhood is a whole different universe.

There were parts of this ...

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Slawpi Đô, his pseudonym, shares why he is dedicated to learning Vietnamese. why he wants to be on Vietnamese TV, and talks about his military background, trying to start a business in Vietnam and learning to enjoy being unproductive. 

In this episode Niall and Slawpi Đô talk...

“The first thing I saw that I just loved so much is that the women here are so fearless.” — Amy Wenham

This conversation with Amy was one of those episodes where I found myself nodding almost the entire time. I’ve been talking about how badass Vietnamese women are for years, but Amy put language to things I’ve seen but could never fully articulate.

What I loved most is that she didn’t just compare Vietnam to the UK — she compared it ...

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This episode’s guest, Tracey Nguyen Mang, is the founder and creator of the award winning podcast: The Vietnamese Boat People. This podcast shares the stories of hope, survival and resilience from the Vietnamese diaspora during 1975-1992.

Tracey was so interesting and engaging an interview it went for nearly two hours. It's been edited into two parts with bonus content ...

“If I really spent $4,000 a month, I’d have a villa and a problem.”

Having Markeiz back on Discover Vietnam felt like picking up a conversation we never really finished the first time. When he first joined me back in 2020, I was recording out of my bedroom, praying the iPhone wouldn’t ruin the audio. This time, we were sitting in a full podcast studio — lights, cameras, a technician, the whole lot. It made me think about how much th...

This episode’s guest, Tracey Nguyen Mang, is the founder and creator of the Vietnamese Boat People podcast, an award winning podcast which shares the stories of the Vietnamese diaspora, and something that has often been discussed with previous guests on this show. Tracey was born the youngest of seven children, in Nha Trang Vietnam before her family risked their lives to flee Vietnam.

Tracey was just three when her family ...

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I met Anastasia Sokyrka in Government Quarantine in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. You can listen to my episode with her and my wife, Adrie, about our experiences while we were living them.

Since then we have become close friends, a silver lining of a tough experience (17 days with no mattress, no air con and no booze!)

Finally, after two years of the pandemic Anastasia was able to ...

Join The Community with Zion!

Zion Johnson is a former Transactivist, a writer and Seven Million Bikes superfan. He is the only person in the world to have a Seven Million Bikes tattoo!

In this episode we talk about;
- Zion's gender journey
- his trans-activism in the US
- transitioning from a black female to a black man
- woke culture
- why he decided to leave the U.S and settle in Vietna...

The opening guest of Season 7 is Brian Letwin, a New Yorker in Saigon since 2010. Brian is the co-founder and CEO of the Urbanist Network which includes Saigoneer, Urbanist Vietnam and Urbanist Hanoi.

Using his 15 years experience working in digital media both on the agency and publisher side Saigoneer has now been running since 2013.

Recorded in late August when Saigon was still under strict lockdown we try to ke...

“The reason I’m putting on a podcast is because I want to listen. I don’t want to read about the hosts - I want you to tell me about you.” — Adrie Mackay

 Today I'm doing something a little bit different. You're about to hear an episode from my other show, Smarter Podcasting, where my wife Adrie joins me to talk about what she looks for in a podcast 

 So if you ever thought. I could do that, but I don't know how, then ...

Phuong Nguyen is a Vietnamese expat currently located in Paphos, Cyprus. 

She has hosted a Vietnamese podcast since 2016. Occasionally she interviewed Expats living in Vietnam and has some episodes covering expat lives such as being a vegan in Hanoi, Vietnam under the eyes of an artist and expat's life during Tet - Vietnam's traditional New year holiday. 

At the age of 30, she decided to shift her career...

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I bring you a quick update as we take a short break. 

The podcast has evolved into a thriving business since its inception in 2019, leading to the establishment of the Saigon Podcast Studio. 

This year has been challenging due to my health issues, but the business is growing with new clients. We've rebranded to focus on relevant topics and I'm eager for your feedback. 

We've been reliving our journey by airing...

The most difficult man to nail down for an interview is finally on Seven Million Bikes! Chef and Restaurateur Calvin Bui of El Camino and Dos Amigos Taqueria.

A California native born of parents who escaped the fall out of the Vietnam war, Calvin has lived in Saigon for 10 years now and gone from a Wall Street Banker to owning and running successful restaurants in Saigon. Most notable for his fusion of Korean and Mexican f...

 Levi Oi moved from Berlin to Saigon at the end of 2018 - to discover her Vietnamese roots and to become a DJ.

Her style is characterized by deep infectious melodic tunes, strong baselines paired with a cheeky sprinkle of techno.

Within 5 months of her DJ career, she played her first Boiler Room set in Ho Chi Minh City.
Next to organizing electronic music events, she was also the tour manager of Red Axes and l...

 Mr Nam Đen as he is affectionately known in Vietnam, or Nadis as he is known in his home country of Nigeria, is the creator of Afro Viet TV, a massively popular You Tube channel.

Through comedy, food, music and travel his channel explores the beauty of African and Asian cultures.

After first coming to Vietnam in 2008 he has now lived here for 10 years and is one of those rare things... an expat who can speak flue...

“Vietnam isn’t just somewhere people come for a cheap holiday anymore — it’s where creators, entrepreneurs, and dreamers are choosing to build a life.”

That line sums up what this episode is all about.

For our first-ever live-streamed episode of Discover Vietnam, I sat down with Dana Bradley, co-founder of Where in HCMC, to talk about how Vietnam — especially Saigon — has evolved into one of the most exciting lifestyle destinations i...

 Niall talks to Ilse Zoerb. They instantly click and are both super goofy, joking about her name, accent and even Niall's dead grandmother. We even find a mutual appreciation for the TLC channel. Check out her favourite TLC show here. 

Ilse helped her parents move to Vietnam at the end of 2016 while Trump was taking office. She got caught in the Saigon vortex and is grateful for it.

Ilse is a creator of thing...

“You can live in Vietnam for $1,000 a month… but will you be happy, healthy, and secure doing it?”

Adrie and I are gonna be here again, but in different roles - she’s the host and interviews me. Adrie asks me about the real cost of living in Vietnam after nine years as expats in Ho Chi Minh City. When we first arrived, we thought everything would be dirt cheap — almost free. But as we settled into long-term life, we learned that cos...

Lars Callieou is a touring comedian from Edmonton, Canada, who was recently on his 4th tour of Saigon and Vietnam.

After watching his show and attending a workshop he put on for local comedians I caught up with Lars at his hotel shortly before he flew back to Canada. So apologies for the background noise, we were in the hotel restaurant that was thankfully mostly quiet. 

Lars has appeared at the Just for Laughs Fe...