I’m back in Vietnam, this time for work. I will be at the FOSSASIA Summit 2024 next week.

This is my favorite conference of the year, and I have been looking forward to it since my talk was accepted.

Last year, the conference was in Singapore, and I had a great time during both the talks and the social events.

The other day, I read that Vietnam and other South East Asian and East Asian countries have a very non-confrontational work culture. This creates a culture of drinking after work, which gives the liquid courage for some much-needed confrontations.

I, for one, am very down with this culture. I’m not a heavy drinker, but I have fun. Last year, after the FOSSASIA Summit, we spent an evening with a small hike followed by cold beers. This year, there is a social event at a street named “Beer Street.”

This is also the conference where I meet many people, and these connections have helped me in my work and personal life. Last year, thanks to my new friends from the FOSSASIA Summit, we organized an Apache APISIX meetup in Singapore.

Next week will also be a bit tiresome with back-to-back conferences as I will be at the Kubernetes Community Days in Pune.