You think you know the place you are living in until you start doing research about it.

And every research starts with a question or two. Or three.

With that in mind, we were asking ourselves: how expatriate communities in Saigon are created, how different are they from one another? What is one’s sense of home with their relation to certain places?

To that end, we sought to see how the concepts and theories of transnationalism, diaspora, sense of belonging are translated in action, by looking at the two expatriate communities in Saigon: Thao Dien and Bui Vien.

Observation and the interviews with both residents and tourists at this two areas have provided fascinating insights as well as a springboard for deeper interpretation of the concepts. All presented in our website, entitled ‘Transnational Saigon’.

Not only does our website confirm but also contest established scholars in the field. Above all, it offers a marvelous informant of life to anyone who fall in love with Saigon. The website has garnered high praise from lecturer and good comments from experts, too.