Day Three

Today there was no visit to UEF. We took a bus to Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). There we were given a briefing about the background of Vietnam again as well as about VSIP. After this briefing we rode a short distance to a company in the industrial park called II-VI (two-six, if you didn’t catch that). It is a Pittsburgh based company that deals with semiconductor production and precision optics lenses and other engineering equipment. We took a tour through the factory. Had this visit been to a company in the United States, I feel like some type of eye protection and/or breathing mask would have been required. There was heavy chemical smell in the building as there were multiple vats of unknown liquids being used to treat and coat lenses. Everywhere we go it is quite obvious that all the Vietnamese are staring at us. It makes sense, seeing as most Vietnamese are a foot shorter than the average American. We must look like giants. After finishing this tour we returned to the hotel for lunch. The company which we were supposed to visit in the afternoon cancelled, so we went to a bank instead. It seemed like an odd idea at first, but it turned out to be quite entertaining and interesting. The bank employees spoke broken English and it was very difficult to understand them. Most of the things I was able to comprehend were the facts and figures written on the whiteboard. The entire time we were in the bank a man followed us taking pictures. I’m not sure if most banks staff a professional photographer for every branch, but I doubt it. One of the funnier and more confusing parts of this visit was after we finished the briefing and returned to the main level of the bank. As we started walking down the stairs back to the main level, all the bank employees stopped what they were doing and gave us a standing ovation. Still confused about that, but they were very friendly and one employee insisted on giving us all the candy that they had in the bank. There was a lot of candy. Interesting day on the whole.