Archive - A story from Connla

An actual newsletter

Breaking my promise that this would be a news-free newsletter to send out a quick update. Please forgive the interruption.

Jun 22 •

The life and times of ‘Madame Canon’

Madeleine O’Connell was a French plantation owner, who died in a skirmish in Tây Ninh in 1947. Her story is a good one, but complex too, so here’s what…

Jun 16 •

May 2025

And back along the lane again

A reworked travel piece I wrote earlier this year on one of Saigon’s most glorious — yet still often overlooked — attractions: its vast network of…

May 24 •

The hot Californian bánh mì that came in from the cold

A piece of satire from the digital archives. Resurrected in honour of anyone who comes to Vietnam and claims the 'humble banh mi' just isn't up to their…

May 11 •

February 2025

Posthumously yours, a letter from Phnom Penh

From the archives: A story (fiction) I wrote a few years ago. It was inspired by the grim online comments (that I found on a forum) about expats who…

Feb 14 •

Into the backstreets...

Re-directing traffic to Escape Artist, a website that has just published a travel feature I wrote about why you need to lose yourself in the alleys of…

Feb 10 •

'Falling for Saigon'

Warning: this post contains self-promotion. I have a collection of essays about life in contemporary Ho Chi Minh City coming out on May 1, 2025.

Feb 3 •

May 2024

When Somerset Maugham cruised through Vietnam and never came back

At the peak of his literary fame, Somerset Maugham travelled (very swiftly) through Vietnam. Fair to say, he wasn't too impressed. So why would anyone…

May 15, 2024 •

January 2024

48 Hours in any Southeast Asian city, other than the one you (an expat) live in….

Well, I'm in [insert name of Southeast Asian city] and after 27 hours, I'm convinced that I should live here but, well, we've all been there before…

Jan 18, 2024 •

December 2023

Belated acknowledgements (and some apologies)

Looking back, the first 7-8 months of life in Hanoi weren't really smooth sailing, so here's some belated thank-yous to everyone who indirectly…

Dec 18, 2023 •

October 2023

A quest for love and glory

In 1985 an American man departed the Philippines in a sailboat and, 13 days later, illegally entered Vietnam where he hoped to find a young woman he’d…

Oct 20, 2023 •

How to live in Hanoi - a dated story set in 2002AD

On renting a house in Vietnam's capital the old fashioned way.

Oct 13, 2023 •

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