After a rhino carcass was discovered in Nam Cat Tien, I met village elder Dieu K'Giang (possibly the first person to see rhinos in Nam Cat Tien), hoping to hear it was not the last of them.

Vietnam's proposed nine-day Tet holiday in 2026 may look generous, but for millions who spend days just traveling home, it feels short.

Despite everyone's efforts to cheer him and invite him to join the celebration around a beautifully crafted cake, my son could not take his eyes off his cell phone.

The night before heavy rains caused widespread flooding in Hanoi on Tuesday, my son asked, 'Any announcement, Dad?' He hoped school would be canceled. I searched too, for warnings from Hanoi's authorities, but found nothing.

On Sept. 30, it took me six hours to cover 10 km through Hanoi's flooded streets, a night that revealed how unprepared the capital is for every heavy rain.

There are three places that I believe everyone should visit once in their life, not out of curiosity, and certainly not for thrills.

Finding a specialist in Canada proved nearly impossible without a referral from my family doctor, which took up to three months.

When I first drove in Bangkok and on its expressways, my immediate reaction was: "These lanes feel a bit narrow." So after reading news about proposals to narrow inner-city car lanes in Vietnam, I was pleased.

I have often had unpleasant experiences with the superior attitude and abrupt questioning of airport staff during check-in.

At the height of my career two decades ago, I was an HR manager earning a steady VND15 million (US$570) a month, a job many would call safe. But one question unsettled me: What if I lose this job after 40?

The ongoing debate about Filipino teachers not being "native" oversimplifies the real issue and ignores important facts. Let's set the record straight.

A complaint from a VnExpress reader about Filipinos teaching "native English" lessons has sparked strong reactions, with many readers defending Filipinos as highly qualified English teachers and emphasizing that non-native accents are not a problem.

I'm not surprised that Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai are among the worst airports in the world — I'm so used to their flight delays.

Lan, an excellent infrastructure engineer, has been involved with major projects in Vietnam, his home country. But after moving to New Zealand more than five years ago, he is still struggling to find a job despite a skill shortage in the construction sector.

Each student at my child's school pays VND300,000 (US$11.37) a month to learn English with a foreign teacher, but the school hires non-native English speakers.

I have a cousin whose child has attended an international school for many years, but their English proficiency remains mediocre.

Last May, I joined a group of Europeans at a fishing village on Vietnam's central coast. They loved the dawn fish market and homemade lunch, until they spent nearly an hour just trying to find a taxi back to their hotel.

It pains me to see so many Vietnamese students pouring huge sums of money into IELTS exams, only to be trapped in a cycle of expiry dates and retests.

I feel embarrassed by a recent incident at a restaurant in Germany, where a group of Vietnamese guests caused a commotion, banging spoons, screaming out for staff over a missing chili pot, and speaking loudly.