My Google Maps Addiction, and Why You Should Use It, Too

Today I'd like to talk about how I log what I do for fun around town. It's really nerdy!

For several years now (maybe 4?) I have been using Google Maps to document all the cool places I've visited, what I've eaten, and all the great coffee I've had to drink.

It sounds kind of inane now that I'm saying it out loud, but I absolutely love using this service, mostly on my phone. It has even become something of an addiction, I'd say! 'Must get rid of the yellow marks...!'

Here's the overview of my immediate neighborhood, for example:

• Blue checks are the places (cafes and restaurants, mostly) that I've visited and reviewed.
• Yellow checks are the ones I haven't been to yet but want to visit. 

The orange ones are the standard google maps suggestions, which are sometimes accurate for your interests and sometimes not. I don't let Google track my location, so these are pretty random for me, personally.

Let me tell you about why this is a great way to explore HCMC, or any city - click through for more!

Modern Vietnamese Music I Actually Dig

Vietnamese music is... not for everyone. This is probably an understatement! But after 7 years, I've finally started to 'get it' and I couldn't be happier about it.

Den, my favorite Vnese rapper... a true gem.

While Japanese music has its faithful adherents and K-Pop is having its biggest-ever moment, with BTS and Blackpink actually singing entire songs in English and catering to a worldwide audience, other Asian countries have been somewhat left in the dust. That's not to say there's nothing here worthy of the world's attention, however!

When I first got to Vietnam in (holy shit) 2013, I absolutely hated, HATED, all the music I heard. This is because most of what I heard was bolero (largely wistful songs of love, loss, and an imagined idyllic countryside existence of yesteryear). I'm also not a romantic and don't much care for ballads, so this whole package is massively unappealing to me.

In recent years, however, I've had the pleasure of being proven very, very wrong.

Click through for my thoughts, and my favorite Vietnamese pop, rap, and hip hop music videos!