Ensenada, Mexico - Present Day

Out of the darkness of the dimly lit cruise ship lounge, Quang Lê (yep, the famous singer himself) emerges with shades on and makes a bee-line to my table and offers up his hand for a handshake and proclaims, "I read about you on Mẫu Tâm." Then, he takes his hand back to discreetly pull out a small camera from his bag. He then motions one of his posse to quickly snap a picture of us two...like I was some kind of infamous outlaw that's about to jump into La Bufadora, which is the blowhole that is the only tourist attraction for this god-forsaken town of Ensenada. And that mi amigos, is the only good part of this sordid tale. Please be advised, I bear no ill will towards those who had inadvertently "outed" me. But for those who meant harm...well, I did buy some mysterious voodoo dolls from the Ensenada open market for a hefty sum of pesos.

D.H. comtemplating La Bufadora


Quang Lê and the potential La Bufadora jumper?

My story began back in a world known as Pandora, where my human-hybrid AVATAR used to roam with the Na'vi natives....ok, back to reality, I mean half the way across the world back in Vietnam.

Saigon, Vietnam - Three months ago

So there I was, sitting back comfortably on the sofa of the Sofitel Hotel lobby, marveling at the dizzying Saigon rush-hour traffic when it happened. As I was browsing the Internet on my iPhone, a couple of eerily familiar faces jumped out at me. It was on a front page article from VN Express, no less. The ominous title was, "Kỳ Duyên cùng bạn trai về thăm Sài Gòn" featuring a smug looking picture of Yours Truly with the famous emcee. Yikes!!!

I remember feeling a bit disoriented... I sure wasn't ready to be 'outed' this way, this fast. Oddly, I've always thought that if I were to be famous, it'd be on the front page of USA Today for saving someone's life off the train track (and lose my own), or something really melodramatic, but not like this. Been watching too much TV, I suppose.

Back to that pivotal moment. It happened on the 2nd day of a 4-day vacation to Vietnam. I remember feeling like I was no longer privy to enjoy the hustle-and-bustle of Vietnam without being watched. Severe paranoia started kicking in. I glanced around the hotel lobby and spotted a few faces looking my way. Did they just read the article too? Did they think badly of me? These suspicions began to cloud up my judgment. Consequently, I got up, put my imaginary horse-blinders on and headed straight back to my hotel room so I could read more of what was written in that article. If I only knew what was waiting for me in the days ahead...

I started down this path a couple of years ago as an anonymous writer for Kyduyenhouse.com under the persistent request of the website's namesake owner. Under the brand new alter-ego, I was able to write juicy articles from "How to Date a Famous Viet Singer" to "4 Secrets Viet Celebrities Don't Want You To Know." The anonymity that came with the job was exhilarating. I could write about taboo subjects that no one else had written before without repercussion. I could re-tell stories of my encounters with Viet singers and reveal their innermost secrets and snitch on shrewd organizers who didn't pay the talents. I was a man without boundaries....well, at least that's what I was led to believe.

In a matter of months after a few of my articles were posted, a member of the Kyduyenhouse forum who knew me began to post a series of my pictures in an effort to 'ID' me. It was then decided that complete anonymity was not possible, so I added a small picture of myself at the end of each article but still operate under my pen name with some measure of secrecy. And I continued writing, although not as brazen as before, but I managed to dance around some topics without giving up too many personal details. Sadly, I could feel that my days as a clandestine writer were about to be numbered.

Soon after VN Express 'outed' me, the other news outlets followed up with a few more articles with me as their favorite whipping boy. I became one of the hot topics in various gossip forums. Although I was not a celeb, nor did I enjoy any of the perks, I did partake in being the recipient of some very opinionated commentaries. My past articles that previously got minimal comments were being re-posted on their board with new headings just for the board of commentators to lecture me. One board member took liberty in renaming me as "Dưới Háng" (ouch) and said that I wrote articles just to pick up pretty singers...not entirely true, but if that were true, I'd say fringe benefits!

In the beginning, those snipes really bothered me and I began to argue with them publicly. But after a while, I learned from my celeb friends that I should just ignore them, like they usually do. Additionally, I was told to take comfort in the fact that the top names in Viet showbiz always get blasted in those kinds of forums. So it's a sign that you must be popular when they rip you to shred in there, the wise emcee opined. Hmmm...I like the way she thinks. It was the price of being in the public eye, and if I couldn't stand the heat, get out of their kitchen, or stop writing, one forum senior member advised me.

This ordeal also affected me on the personal front. Since I knew that it was a short trip to Viet Nam, and that we had a full schedule, I neglected to let my Vietnam relatives know that I was going there. So you can imagine their dismay when my face was plastered all over the Vietnam web, and yet no calls or visits from the Internet Boy. As a result, when I got back to the States, I had to spend a good day and a half sending out apology emails to them for my blunder and a couple more follow up phone calls for damage control. So much for a quiet getaway!

On a slightly positive note, I began getting emails from long lost college friends who simply wrote to let me know that they saw me on the internet and a few more fan mails from readers who liked my articles. I even met a couple of singers (besides Quang Lê) who said some nice things to me for writing "6 Reasons to Fall in Love." But the most common thing that people say to me is that I look younger or better outside! The same line that I usually hear them telling other celebs. What the heck does that mean anyway? Does that mean that I look older on the inside? Kekeke...

Washington, D.C. - The Aftermath

One the eve of watching Paris By Night 99 - Tôi Là Người Việt Nam, and then, the movie AVATAR, on DVD, I began to think that while I'm proud to be Vietnamese, I wish I could escape to Avatar's Pandora and begin anew. I could blend in with the Na'vi natives and come back to tell stories of my fantastic adventures with them. Because back here on Earth, I've already been IDed by the celebs native, and since they know who I am, they are visibly more guarded than in the past. For example, when I take pictures with them, the pretty ones no longer drape themselves around me, for fear that they too, would be headlining VN Express for all the wrong reasons. I guess I must have also broken the cardinal rule of becoming a journalist, which is to report the news, and not become one. Even the aforementioned famous emcee that I'm linked to, confided that we could have had much more fun had I not been 'outed' this early in the game....Ay Carumba!

Duy Hân
May, 2010

Duy Hân is a supervisor in the advertising department of a large financial organization. He earned his B.S. from the University of Maryland and is an MBA graduate. Duy Hân lives in the Washington DC area and has a beagle named Alaska that likes to take long walks on the beach. He can be reached at AskDuyHan@gmail.com.