Joshua Zukas

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Joshua Zukas

Writer | Fixer | Strategist

Vietnam-based writer covering travel, culture, architecture, food and innovation in Asia. BA in Southeast Asian Studies. MSc in Sustainable Tourism.

Travel writer for Lonely Planet, Michelin Guide, Bradt Guides, Ink Global, CNN Create and Asia's top inflight magazines. 

Intermittent contributor to various other publications, including The Economist, Insider, Wallpaper and Interior Design Magazine. 

Experience with national and regional tourism organisations in India, Japan, South Korea, the Maldives, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. 

For portfolio highlights, scroll down. For specific verticals, take a look at the navigation bar. To stay up to date, click subscribe. Connect with me by email, Instagram or LinkedIn through the icons above.

Portfolio Highlights

The Economist •

Vietnamese Modernism Was Ahead of Its Time

It is difficult to imagine Ho Chi Minh city without its glittering towers of glass and steel looming over the urban sprawl. Home to around 9m people, Vietnam’s commercial capital is its most populous city; yet prior to the 1960s, high-rise buildings were rare in Saigon, as it was known until 1975. The one that went up during that decade at 151 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia in downtown Saigon was pioneering: it offered a solution to the question of where to house the city’s rapidly growing population, inspiring the constr
1843 •

Vietnam’s Ghosts Are Hungry for iPhones

It’s 8pm in Hanoi’s labyrinthine Old Quarter and shop-owner Tran Thu Hien places her last $100 bill on the crackling street-side fire. I’ve watched her burn through thousands of dollars, but it’s still not enough. Hien, crouched over the blaze and dripping with sweat, has exhausted the cash. So she unpacks a box of personal items, pre-prepared for incineration: a gold Rolex, a pair of designer sunglasses, a pack of Cuban cigars and an iPhone X. Finally, Hien turns to a black Toyota Camry. The ca
Travelfish •

Vietnam: Beyond the Stereotype

Vietnam is awash with antiquated and orientalist fantasies. Travel media outlets manufacture nostalgia for a colonial heirloom with crowded street kitchens and conical hat-wearing hawkers. Foreign travel companies overrepresent Vietnam’s beaches as if the country exists to serve sun-starved Northeast Asians and Europeans. And although Vietnam has been at peace for over four decades, American films continue to portray a perilous place reeling from war.
Interior Design Magazine •

Bridge to Tomorrow

The Chao Phraya, Thailand’s major river, meanders through the center of the country, linking the ruins of the former capital, Ayutthaya, to the current one, Bangkok, about 50 miles to the south. The legendary waterway, which has nurtured Thai civilization for centuries, is what inspires—and flows around—Sala Bang Pa-In, a new island re- sort by Department of Architecture, the firm’s second project for the Sala Hospitality Group, a regional chain of nine luxury hotels, spas, and boutique properties.

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