“ME & THE MONSTERS” — A Vietnam Skate Scene Video

On the same day that we dropped Toda Fuerza’s Havana edit, we got an email asking, “We saw you posted a Cuba edit. What about a Vietnam edit, another place where the skate scene is only just now beginning to grow exponentially?”

The two polarities of QS are that we are incredibly interested in what’s happened at the ledge down the street from the office, and we love a video out of a scene that we know next to nothing about. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is certainly one of those places.

Cal Thacher is Vietnamese and grew up in S.F., and after having spent stints in Vietnam in 2019 and 2022, he really noticed the scene starting to grow when he moved back full-time last year. In the twelve months that he’s lived there, he put together Me & The Monsters, a video showcasing the new generation coming up out of H.C.M.C., a place supported by Saigon Skateshop and the city’s sole skatepark.

Asked how he’d describe skateboard culture in the city, he says: “It truly is a city that never sleeps. I think these kids have no fear because of growing up in that environment. Sometimes I meet up with them at 5 A.M., and they want to skate a 12 stair with no warm-up after playing video games at the internet cafe all night. Just for the love of it; they’re not getting paid or any product. It’s quite jarring in South Vietnam, because people in general have a ‘right here, right now’ mentality. Everyone here is really nice and accepting. It’s an amazing place, and the spots are great. All the homies here will take you around on a motorbike, even up to the mountains. If there’s one thing I want people to take away from this video, it’s that they should come see for themselves what it’s really like here.”

Film and edit by Cal Thacher.

Additional Filming by Malo Dognin and Tân Khôi.

November 2024 – November 2025. Filmed primarily in Ho Chi Minh City 🇻🇳