Vietnamese Roots, German Beginnings - Embraces Your Identity | Trang Nguyen S11 E6

"In the past I compared myself a lot with the people around me. And I felt, with all my German friends, like less German, but also having low values."

I sat down with Trang Nguyen, a food scientist and aspiring content creator who recently moved to Vietnam from Germany. Trang shares her complex journey growing up as a Vietnamese-German, grappling with cultural identity, and her evolving relationship with her Vietnamese heritage. 

She also shared how her perspective on Vietnam has transformed, moving from a place she resisted to a vibrant home filled with opportunities and a unique lifestyle.

Trang opens up about her experiences with cultural challenges, societal expectations, and her initial reluctance to connect with her Vietnamese roots. Now in Saigon, she’s immersing herself in the lively street food culture and embracing a new career path in content creation. 

Together we explore the stark contrasts between the Western and Vietnamese perspectives on privacy, food safety, and personal growth, offering listeners a heartfelt and insightful look into life as a Vietnamese expatriate reconnecting with her origins.

Key Takeaways

• Struggles with Identity – Trang discusses feeling different growing up as a Vietnamese-German, struggling with self-worth and societal beauty standards.
• Embracing Vietnamese Heritage – After years of distancing from her roots, Trang shares how volunteering and exploring Vietnam sparked a new appreciation for her culture.
• The "City That Never Sleeps" – Living in bustling District 1, Trang recounts the non-stop activity and unique rhythm of life in Saigon.
• Food Safety Culture Shock – As a food scientist, Trang shares her thoughts on Vietnam’s street food culture an

7 Bridges Brewing Co. - An award winning Vietnamese craft brewery from Da Nang, with breweries across Vietnam!

Rabbit Hole Irish Sports Bar - Check out their new location on Tran Nao with the best views in the city over Landmark 81!

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Transcript

Trang: 2:28

In school, when you're like in puberty, you want to be liked, right? I felt that, they would see me differently because I have darker skin. I always felt like they would not like me.

Niall: 2:38

This is why we love it here. This energy, the people, it's a special place. I saw a reel saying Ho Chi Minh City, the city that never sleeps. I've lived in New York. And I was like, New York goes to sleep. Saigon literally never sleeps.

Trang: 2:51

I'm living in District 1 right now, at 3am, 4am, I can tell you there are people either having already breakfast or just like having a midnight snack.

Niall: 3:01

Like everywhere you go, there's just food everywhere and there's always people eating at any time of the day or night. Welcome to Season 11 of Vietnam Podcast with me, your host, Niall Mackay. I started this podcast back in 2019 because I wanted to share stories of people connected to Vietnam and learn more about them. I cannot believe now it's maybe one of the longest running English language podcasts in Vietnam, possibly. I need to double check the Bureau. I think the Bureau maybe started two years ago. Just before me, I'm not too sure. And I think they're still going as well. But after five years, we are still sharing stories of people connected to Vietnam. I came to Vietnam in 2015 for a holiday, fell in love with the place, came back for six weeks and I've never left. There's definitely something special about this country and Saigon in general. Just talking about it last night with Adrie about how there's just something about Vietnam and Saigon, especially an energy that just, Gets people excited and gets them to stay here. So in this episode I'm really excited to be talking to my guest today who I just met recently and she just moved to Vietnam all the way from Germany. She is a food scientist and she has come to Vietnam to explore being a content creator. I'm very, very excited to talk today to Trang Nguyen. Thank you very much for joining me on a Vietnam podcast.

Trang: 4:29

Thank you so much for the invitation. I'm so excited.

Niall: 4:32

That's awesome. What are you excited about?

Trang: 4:35

It's my first time on a podcast. It's my first step of being a content creator or like going in the direction of being a voice, being in public. And. I'm, I don't know. It's so different. My life was so different a month ago. I was in Germany, just graduated and now I'm in Vietnam and I got the chance to be in a podcast.

Niall: 4:57

I

Trang: 4:57

feel like a dream is coming true.

Niall: 4:59

I love that. I've had a few people say that it's like the first podcast or they've like been wanting to be on one and it's, it's pretty cool. So I'm glad to have you on here. so tell me a bit about your background and why you came to Vietnam.

Trang: 5:11

So I'm born and raised in Germany and my parents came to Germany before the war fell. They were like contract workers. So Vietnam and the GDR, like the East Germany, they had a contract. So a lot of Vietnamese people were in Germany to work for around, four years. four or five years and they came right before the war fell in 1987 and then the war fell in 89. So they could stay in Germany. a lot of people went back to Vietnam but they decided to stay and me and my siblings are born there. We don't have a German name. I asked my mom why she didn't give us a German name. And she said because we are Vietnamese, she doesn't know about pretty German names. And so it was for her totally clear to get a Vietnamese name for me.

Niall: 6:00

what was it like then growing up in Germany? Because I mentioned, we've had similar guests on that, which I find so fascinating. So we had Nhi Mai, who was Swiss Vietnamese, very similar. Her parents moved over to Switzerland for work. We've had Moni Le, who's a Hungarian. Vietnamese, and it's just really, I find it so fascinating hearing these backstories and what life was like growing up because, as I've talked about it before, so I'm from like a homogenous background. My family are all Scottish, we're as far back Scottish as you can find. We live in Glasgow. It's all Scottish people. So I just find it so interesting talking to people like yourself who have just such a, an interesting background and different, difficult. How was it for you growing up

Trang: 6:43

in the past I compared myself a lot with the people around me, which people usually do when they're young. And I felt. with all my German friends, like less, to be honest, and

Niall: 6:57

like less German,

Trang: 6:58

less German, but also like low, like having low values, you're low confidence, which you already have as a teenager and as a child. But,

Niall: 7:08

yes,

Trang: 7:08

but, For example, with my name, it was always hard for the people in Germany to pronounce my name because it's written with TR, so it would say Trang, or Trang. So I always had to explain myself, and sometimes I couldn't open up to, say that, and, or every time in class when they, go through the list and I knew my name would come, I felt, already ashamed of it. And I was like even already raising my hand knowing when they were stopping and struggling to pronounce it. I was like, here, I'm here, I'm here. You don't have to say because it's going to be like funny for everyone, but it wasn't funny for me. And I guess, in Vietnam, it's totally different because my name is so common. And everyone says oh, there's so many Trangs. And for me as a child, I was like so special, but I didn't want to be special.

Niall: 7:52

so how did that make you feel then growing up?

Trang: 7:55

sometimes I wanted like often times many times. I just wanted to be as the other ones white and blue eyes blonde hair just fit with everyone so I felt like I don't know where I belong to and There was a time I didn't like the Vietnamese culture at all everything related to Vietnam. I hated it. I didn't like the culture, the people, the language, because everything I knew from Vietnam was just from my parents. And of course, as a teenager, there's a face you just don't like your parents.

Niall: 8:26

Is that really like in Germany, blonde hair, blue eyes,

Trang: 8:29

No, not everyone. But I felt like this is the beauty standard. And this is what seems like really attractive. And in school, when you're like in puberty, you want to be like, liked, right? And you just seem different. And you felt like I felt that, for example, guys, but also like girls, like they would see me differently because I have darker skin. And I always felt they, they would not like me.

Niall: 8:57

And so what did you know about Vietnam? You said you were anti Vietnam What had you learned from your parents? I assume, had you been back? Did you come back to visit at any time? Had you had those opinions yourself or you just held it from your parents?

Trang: 9:10

No, so I, I was in Vietnam when I was a child, but really young, so I don't remember that at all. And then there was a period, like 8 years I wasn't in Vietnam at all, probably from 4 to 13. So this was like a part where I didn't know a lot about the Vietnamese culture, besides from my parents. And in comparison to my sister, when she was like 12, she went to Vietnam by herself, for example, she had her summers there. So she got connected to our family, like all the cousins, and it was super fun. But me, I was like more like during summer vacation breaks, I was at home, like in Germany. And I think that was a part where I felt disconnected to the culture. And Hmm. there are like things. about the Vietnamese culture that just in general aren't not always pretty and the Vietnamese people don't know that as well. But during that time I thought they were super annoying.

Niall: 10:13

What about the culture or the Vietnamese people was super annoying?

Trang: 10:18

So I remember my parents sometimes dragged me to like some gatherings, Vietnamese gatherings and And the people were always super loud like they sing loud karaoke, and they gossip loudly, the aunties would, be straight to your face saying, oh, you have such a dark skin, you're so skinny, you should eat more, and it is, rude for me, but also, I had to be, like, you're supposed to, greet everyone, and you're, like, the youngest, and this is, hard for me because They're like, in Vietnam, different ways to greet someone based on their age. So you have to guess if that person's auntie or uncle is older or younger than your parents, and you don't want to make a mistake, and you're already, the youngest person, so you're shy, and you don't want to hang out and talk to adults at all. But then your parents make you like, oh, you have to, greet this uncle now, and you, I'm just, greeting really, awkward. Quietly. And then they would scream at me, you have to like, didn't you greet at me? Don't you respect me or something? So this was like super scary. I was like a shy kid.

Niall: 11:24

Yeah, that doesn't help, does it? I know that the pronouns are so complicated, right? Because I remember a friend telling us, obviously we have like your uncle is your mum or dad's brother, right? It's pretty simple. But they could be your mum or dad's brother. But if they're younger than you, or they're like, What was it? If they're younger than your dad? Like your dad's younger brother or older brother, is that right? Like the pronouns can Trange and then it really is complicated to figure out what to use. then on top of that, you're already shy. So could you speak or can you speak Vietnamese?

Trang: 11:57

Yes, I can. And I'm here to study Vietnamese. I have additional language lessons. I had language lessons already when I was a child in, 5th, 6th grade. but I failed. I didn't like them because it was a time I wanted to spend a lot with my friends, but they were on Saturdays so I couldn't go to birthday parties, and additionally, the teacher, she was really mean to me, so I hated to go to Vietnamese school, but I'm, right now I'm still grateful that I, that my parents, invested in me, because now I don't have to start from zero. I can already read and write, but there's still like a lot of things I need to learn.

Niall: 12:38

I remember we had a guest on the show, and I'm blanking on her name right now, years and years and years ago, right in the beginning, and similar background, Vietnamese American, I think, and, but she didn't learn Vietnamese growing up, and partly because she just wanted to separate herself from that culture, and think she's never going to need it. and then she came back to Saigon and couldn't speak the language and had to start from zero and she said it was so difficult and she's I remember her saying like I wish I could go back something to like my 12 year old self would be like no learn the language so that's amazing that you have.

Trang: 13:10

Yeah I'm really grateful for that but I still feel there's always room for improvement and if you go to a new country and you want to settle down even if you don't know anything about it before you should really make an effort to learn the language because it is part of learning about the culture. There's so much history and different interesting things if you learn the language of a country and it's like part of integration and I feel this is so important.

Niall: 13:41

you're making me feel really bad though because I famously don't speak Vietnamese at all and I've been here for so long.

Trang: 13:46

One day I'm going to influence you to learn Vietnamese.

Niall: 13:51

You're growing up. What did you feel when you came back to Vietnam that you were treated differently or judged differently like you mentioned? The directness and I've learned that that is I've not experienced it myself, I know through Vietnamese friends, it's big culture difference, especially maybe for men as well. They've had people will come up and be like, so how much do you make, which if you're And back home, if someday a family member was like, so how much are you making right now? You'd be like, we're not having this discussion, which I also had this discussion with someone. It's a little bit weird that we keep our salary so private. Because there is an argument that why don't we all just share like what we make? I don't know what any of my friends make. I don't think any of my friends know what I make. It's, is it weird? Or is it, Is it better in Vietnam to be able to tell that? Or do you, is it, do people still find it an awkward conversation, even though it's a normal question?

Trang: 14:44

Hmm, this is like a really sensitive topic. It's like about talking about religion and beliefs, right? But I think in Vietnam, people, yeah, they don't have a lot like this freedom. this thinking about privacy things, they, they, they know they, they are used to share rooms and bathrooms. So I think this is like just a privilege of us that we can hide those things. And maybe it's also, I feel in Vietnam, people just like to share because they care for each other.

Niall: 15:19

I want to pick up on something you said there about privacy in Vietnam. And I want to hear your opinion on this because. I feel like that manifests itself in many different ways that there is a real lack of privacy in some aspects. So coming from Europe where privacy of your details, like your personal details, they've just enacted what a few years ago is it called the GDPR for emails and that completely Tranged the way that emails are collected and spam and things like this and you know like medical information is so private. Here, I mean I've had it where you get sent a spreadsheet. I even remember, sorry, when we first came to Vietnam, they send you your visa letter with like 10 other names on it with their names and passport numbers and you're, I remember my wife and I being like, they just shared our passport numbers with all these other random people and then you come here and sometimes maybe, I remember we, we would be at work and you'd be booked in to go for a health check and then everyone else's information would be on there and, It seems that that aspect of keeping your, not just personal details like your salary, like keeping your private details private, they're not as strict about that here. Do you think that's just because the culture is obviously still catching up, it's 10, 20 years behind, catching up quickly? Or is it a cultural thing, a mindset thing, that they don't value those kind of private details as much as we do in the West?

Trang: 16:41

I think they have to catch up on this because now they use those information to make money, right? But yeah, I think everything in balance. So at some point, it is okay to share information if it's going to help the society to develop. But of course, some information is there just to, deploy people. And I think as soon as this country is getting more wealthier and stable, Western countries, they don't, they wouldn't play those games anymore. You know what I mean?

Niall: 17:14

Yeah. Yeah. I think, do you think it would take like a major scandal or hack or use of those details before. I don't know what's happening in Vietnam politics. I don't know if they're already taking measures to, to do this, but there's, there's just so many examples that I can't think of off the top of my head, but you get like an email or you see something and you're like, this information should never be shared publicly.

Trang: 17:37

But scandals, I feel they don't have such an impact. I think everything has to Start small and slowly to develop. So I think it's just step by step because if there's a scandal, it's just like lasting for a few weeks or months But then the next year you're not gonna hear about it anymore.

Niall: 17:54

Yeah, so when you were growing up At what point did you start to embrace again being from Vietnam?

Trang: 18:02

I think it started around five years ago, so I Like to do volunteer work and I volunteered for ISAC. I don't know. Do you know ISAC? It's like a Association for students to go abroad for an internship or volunteer work, and I already volunteered to just market, like for marketing, that in universities. And so I, advertised for other students to go abroad. And so I thought I could do it by myself too. So I tried to figure out where to go and felt like Vietnam. I want to know more about Vietnam and my family's from the North, but I've never been to the South. So that's why I felt like, oh, let's go to the South. And I've been my first time in Vietnam by myself without family and, anything to really do in Vietnam. usually I would go with my family because we have to visit someone or there is like date, but this time it was just for me and this volunteer project and it was in 2019 and that was the first time I went to Co Chi Min City and realized there are so many international people, but also so much growth and so different from the Vietnam I knew before.'cause before I just wa was wi visiting family, which is in, in a village. So there was like sometimes no toilet, and the streets were like not really built, everything was like dusty, but the city life was totally different, even better than in Europe.

Niall: 19:35

I think in Vietnam it's so different, like between the rural life and city life. I think, I feel like in Scotland, where I'm from, most countries in the West, there's not this huge difference. it's maybe just a smaller town, but there's still running water, electricity, TV, cars, roads, all of that. But here in Vietnam, as soon as you, you don't even need to go very far out of the city. And suddenly it's oh wow, this is really different. Obviously there's still roads and cars and water and things like this, but like you said, like no toilets and things like that. so was that your opinion of Vietnam growing up? Was that's what you thought Vietnam was?

Trang: 20:09

Yes, I always felt Vietnam is such a poor country. I'm from a poor background and I don't want to belong to something poor, right?

Niall: 20:19

And so coming to Saigon, and suddenly you're seeing skyscrapers and highways and cars and that must have been completely crazy then.

Trang: 20:27

It was and I want to go back to the sentence I said. I don't want to really say it was better than Europe but just different. Of course, there's nothing where I can really say this is like worse or better because it's just my own opinion. But for me, Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City was really vibrant and that is what I missed probably from Europe.

Niall: 20:50

This is why I love Saigon and what you do the world you said they're vibrant, we were in Ireland a few years ago and we got up, we got out of bed. I think it was like 10am and the streets were emptying. There was like no cars on the road. Half the shops weren't open and we were like, what is going on? Cause we're used to like, Vietnam is 5am. People are out playing tennis already. The cars are all over the road. And then last night we were out. The opposite 10 p. m. We were in the middle of district one and it was packed like motorbikes, cars, people everywhere and we were just loving it. We were like, this is why we love it here. This energy, the people, it's, yeah, it's a special place, I think.

Trang: 21:33

Mm hmm. A few weeks ago,

Niall: 21:35

I saw as well a reel saying Ho Chi Minh City, the city that never sleeps.

Trang: 21:40

And I saw the comment saying, that's New York. That's not New York. That's not Ho Chi Minh City. But I feel there could be more than just New York that doesn't sleep, right?

Niall: 22:19

No, this is so funny. You said that. Literally, that's what we said to each other last night. So I've lived in New York. And I was like, New York goes to sleep. New York quietens down, 9, 10 o'clock. Times Square, right? That's always busy. But New York in general, it gets quiet. Saigon literally never sleeps. It gets a little bit quiet between 2 a. m. and 4 a. m. That's two or three hours, which I'm never out during that time. I remember the first time, I don't know why I was, we were out that late. It was in our first year we were here. and we drove home and yeah, two, three in the morning, whatever it was, we'd been hanging out with a friend or something and the roads were empty and that was like, I still, that's one of the only few times, because again, I'm not out that late very often, but you can be up to 12, 1, it's still not that quiet and like I say, you get up at 5 and it's already a week. You're like, this is really the city that never sleeps, I think.

Trang: 23:10

It also depends where you go because in District 1, and I'm living in District 1 right now, at 3am, 4am, I can tell you there are people Either having already breakfast or just like having a midnight snack.

Niall: 23:24

People are eating all the time. I don't get it. Like everywhere you go, again, that's why I love Saigon and love Vietnam. There's just food everywhere and there's always people eating at any time of the day or night, right? It's crazy. Talking about District 1, so last night when we were in a taxi and we were like, this is so crazy, and then we were like, well, I guess, you know, it's District 1, we're right in the middle of the Chung Hung Da roundabout, this is like the dead center of Saigon. But then I said to Adrienne, I was like, but if we go to GovApp right now, which is miles away, or we go to District 4, or any other districts, they'll still be packed as well. It's not just District 1. And she's like, yeah, that's true. It is this whole massive sprawling city. It's just crazy.

Trang: 24:06

It is wonderful, right?

Niall: 24:07

It's wonderful, yeah. I love it. We were having this conversation last night with just a big smile on her face, Do you identify as a VHQ? Is that what you would call yourself? Because I know that can be a controversial, label. I don't know if everybody uses it, so that's why I'm asking do you use that label or not? And how have you felt that you've been treated here in Saigon and in Vietnam as someone who is Vietnamese but not, not from here? And I know that I've seen comments online and I've talked to people that there can be a lot of negative reaction sometimes. to people that are Viet Geo.

Trang: 24:42

I didn't have any negative reactions so far. I would say I say oftentimes Viet Geo because it's easier for the people to understand, but I mostly give more to that. I would say I'm born and raised in Germany and I've never lived in Vietnam, but now I'm here to live for a longer time. So there's more background instead of just Vietgeo.

Niall: 25:04

That's a lot to say to somebody when you first meet them, right? Yeah,

Trang: 25:06

but I feel it's really important for them to know. Yeah, because as you said, there's like different definitions of Vietgeo. And if you're like able to say, or like already have this conversation, like to introduce yourself, you can also add more.

Niall: 25:21

Yeah, yeah. do you find it helps that you can speak the language?

Trang: 25:24

Definitely. I think that is a reason why maybe I didn't get any negative. experience so far because I try to like, be more local on a, I don't really, I know that I will never be like a local, but I try to connect with the locals and then I like to take a step forward to them and speak Vietnamese because as well, I want to learn the language. That's why I'm here.

Niall: 25:48

You said your family's from the north. So do you, do you feel discriminated against for having, do you have a northern accent being in Saigon? So they don't care that you're from Germany. They're more like. That's a northern accent.

Trang: 26:01

Sometimes they don't know that I'm from Germany, just they just realize I have a northern accent. So this is a compliment for me. So I feel like, oh, I speak Vietnamese so well that I think I have they just realize a northern accent, but not like a German accent. But they have never been like mad or I don't know. I, I think they're just really open minded and friendly here in the South.

Niall: 26:25

That's what I've heard. We've just put out an episode, go back and check it out with Paul and Krista who are my friends. We've just moved down here from Hanoi and we talk about the differences between Hanoi and Saigon and that was one of them. Now you've just done your master's degree in food science and I'm really excited to talk to you about food science. Most people wouldn't say that. What, I want to hear from your opinion. How long have you been here now? Fifth week, right? So you've, you've got a good sense of food. Safety, quote unquote here. As a food scientist, what do you think of food safety in Saigon?

Trang: 27:00

I have to admit, I just graduated, okay? I did my bachelor's degree in food science and biotechnology, I had an internship in the cosmetics industry, and then I did my master's in food quality with a focus on product safety.

Niall: 27:14

That seems like you are perfectly qualified to answer the question I just gave you.

Trang: 27:19

What I still miss is experience in the work field.

Niall: 27:23

You got eyeballs, you can see what's going on here.

Trang: 27:25

Yeah, but everyone, even without a degree, has like a sense of survival, a survival instinct to know what is, hygienic or not. But I feel, I think I repeat myself here, everything in moderation and balance. So if I'm hungry and there's just like this street food stand, I will get it. Even it's I don't know the background, but I know I'm gonna recover from it. I'm not gonna die from it. I guess so, maybe not. I haven't had a bad experience so far, and I think also maybe it's the way you raised so I know the Vietnamese food already from like childhood on. So for me, it's not something disgusting if I try something new. I'm not scared of trying new things.

Niall: 28:16

But so I don't mean so much the food itself, like what it is, the environment that it's prepared. So I did a video or episode recently, I can go back and check it out, where I shared my favorite Vietnamese food that I eat and where I go. And one of the points I made was that, and I'd learned this from friends and I've learned it from experience, that the dirtier the place, the better the food. And I got a lot of controversy, a lot of blowback from it. And I think maybe sometimes people take my words too literally, And people made an interesting comment that it's the, It's not necessarily dirty, like unhygienic, it's like messy, like untidy, because you do go, because there's a different culture here with leaving food on the plate, food on the table, and scraps, and they don't come like in West and pick everything up right after you. But I do think that, I don't think, I know, and there was a lot of people who backed me up as well, often the places that are the dirtiest are the tastiest. And what I don't understand, and this is why I want to hear your opinion, you go to some of the food places, and They would be shut down in the West immediately, like within a heartbeat, like they wouldn't even make, make it past the morning. You look around, the, obviously, the floor's dirty, the tables are dirty, you might see a rat, the toilet's in the kitchen, you have to walk through the kitchen to go use the bathroom, there's no soap, there's no towels, there's no, paper to dry your hands. on the, on the face of it, looking at it, it is absolutely disgusting, and not every place is like that here, but there are some, 100%, I know. But the food is amazing and I've never been sick here in eight years. So I still don't understand. And I'm really interested to hear your scientific opinion on this or your experience on this. How does that work? How do we have such high standards? Not just in the West, even here in Saigon, there's really nice restaurants. even a McDonald's is spotlessly clean, right? They have food safety standards and for a reason, right? Cause we don't want to get sick from food. But then you also have these like around the corner. I can show you later. So there's a come down, please. It's honestly disgusting, to look at it. There's no running water. It's just some plastic stools in a car. I've never eaten there yet. I'm still too scared to eat there. That's how disgusting it is, but it must be amazing because it is packed day and night. People eating there, and I don't know how they, how they find out about it. It's just a corner of the street, dirt, it's not even paved, it's just dirt, and they put down some plastic chairs, and they must be making amazing food. So that's a long way of me asking, as a food scientist, How does that work? No, that's a terrible answer. I was so excited to hear the, the science behind how, how do we not all get sick from that when we eat this food?

Trang: 30:53

I can just guess because I can't do like the data fact check and I haven't done the research. It's not in my field yet, maybe, but I, I just think, first of all, I think everything extreme should be avoided. But if people say it tastes really good and there was like No one complaining about any like sickness or illness. What I think is maybe it's so good because people put really their heart and mind into making the food that they don't have time to think about something else like cleaning. So it's like maybe the, the tunnel effect that you have. So you're focused on something to make it really good and tasty. So you don't have time to like care for the other things and it works. People just come there for the food and they attract people that are just there for the food and not for the environment and how clean it is.

Niall: 31:45

But how do we not get sick from it? This is the question. I don't understand it because we have these food safety standards to stop us getting sick, right? Because food can make you, it could kill you essentially, right? If it's not done properly. And this is what I'm saying, a lot of these places would be shut down immediately because they don't meet even the base of these standards that we have here in Saigon and around the world as well. To me, it's just one of the coolest things. The dichotomy of Vietnam. One of my favourite words to describe Saigon and describe Vietnam is juxtaposition, there's just these differences, and the food is also another one as well. I'll show you after we, after we finish recording. There's a really nice pasta, pasta fresca, really nice Italian pizza run by Italians. The food is so good. This place I'm talking about is 10 meters down the road. this is what I love about Vietnam, but I don't understand how it works.

Trang: 32:37

Maybe it is because you don't eat those things every day. So maybe once in a while you get like the food that it tastes really good, but it's made from a not really clean place. But then the next time you're gonna cook your meal at home. And I think as well, the way they cook is still clean, but just the surrounding like the place you sit is maybe not clean, but the food itself, it's cooked.

Niall: 33:03

That must be it, right? We'll put it down to that. we'll go and check it out after. So you said earlier you are going to Trange your career path.

Trang: 33:10

I'm not sure yet. I'm really insecure with those things right now, which is, totally normal when you're just graduated and you're just unemployed and looking for a job. I. I really feel I want to become a content creator, not just for having influence, but for me, content creation is something I already did for many years, but more privately. So I document my life, but I put everything on private, like I upload it on, on YouTube, but I just don't publish it. And I realized every time I look back on those videos when I was 16, I, I never regret, documenting those moments where I was like so young and innocent. Yeah,

Niall: 33:57

that's cool that you have that,

Trang: 33:58

yeah. And for me, content creation is about creating, being creative, so that is what I missed in, a bit while working in the scientific field, but content is for me as well, creating something I'm feeling content about. So something I, it's, it's more than just maybe sharing moments, but I think it's also about building community and learning from others and growing together. But next to it, I. Also want to use my degree right now because I studied so hard for it. Yeah, so I'm open to do both ways because I also know with content creation, it's hard to make money and monetize and I want to build something which is not correlated to my, Financial Stability. So I don't want to be someone who is forced to create something to make money. So that's why I have this degree, which gives me a bit of safety as well. So I might going to Trange one day my career more to content creation if I'm able to, but if not, I'm going to be fine as well. I'm open minded.

Niall: 35:04

I think it's time now to go get, are you hungry? We'll go get some lunch at the come time place on the corner. Cenk, thank you so much for this. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you. I'm excited to see your journey, to see your content creation when you've nailed down what you want to create. I'm sure it's going to be amazing. thank you very much for tuning into this episode of a Vietnam podcast. Don't forget, go to patreon. com forward slash a Vietnam podcast and you can join our community. It's small, but it's growing and you can get bonus episodes. You'll get episodes before anyone else. in the middle of planning another meetup for our community and it's going to involve cocktails. and alcohol And I'll see you next time. make sure you do that thing that every content creator tells you to do. You've got to turn on notifications, follow, subscribe, do all of that good stuff. Apparently it helps. It really does. I've started doing it. I never used to turn on notifications for, I listened to a lot of podcasts as you can imagine and I never used to turn on the notifications because I couldn't be bothered getting them the pop ups, but then a few months ago I was like, I actually want to find out when there's a new episode of this. So now I turn any podcast I follow, I turn on notifications. It actually does really help because you get a reminder. You're like, Oh, I forgot about that podcast. So if you're like me, turn on the notifications, it will help. And the best thing that you can do is if. You've enjoyed this episode. If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with someone else who also is passionate about Vietnam, whatever they're interested in. And also, if you ever want to get in touch, send me an email, niallatsevenmillionbikes. com or send a fan mail. There's a million ways you can get in touch with me. I always love to hear from you. So Cheng, thank you very much for being a guest on a Vietnam podcast.

Trang: 36:33

Thank you so much.

Niall: 36:34

You're welcome. Cheers.

Trang: 36:35

Cheers.