Asia New Zealand Foundation

In mid-2008, Ryan Hutchings, an Auckland-based journalist and broadcaster with Thedownlowconcept, was supported by an Asia:NZ media grant to travel to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

His story about encountering everything from a giant catfish to a Thai dentist provides entertaining and revealing vignettes of everyday life in three Southeast Asian countries. He met with a lot of expatriate New Zealanders operating various businesses and running overseas posts, and he remained impressed by the 'can-do' attitude of the local residents. We publish Ryan's extensive impressions in a series of five articles.