Day Eleven

No visits to UEF today. We started out pretty early this morning and headed to Cu Chi to see the tunnels there and to learn about the Vietnam War, better known as the American War. The Vietnamese tunnel system was first used in World War II for protection from the Japanese. The construction was continued during the American War and the total distance of the tunnels reached around 75 miles. The Viet Cong used these tunnels to avoid detection by American soldiers and to move long distances unnoticed. The US Army unknowingly built a military base directly on top of a main hub of the tunnel system at Cu Chi during the war. It took quite a while for the US to discover the tunnel network because the access points were very small and well disguised. Once discovered, the US started sending down “tunnel rats” to try to fight the Vietnamese in their underground city. We also used B-52 bombers to destroy the tunnels. The first part of our visit today was watching a North Vietnamese propaganda video about the American War, which showed the innocence of the Vietnamese people and the brutality of the barbaric Americans. After this, our tour guide showed us various tunnel entrances and improvised hunting traps used against the Americans. We eventually were able to go into a tunnel which I’m sure was expanded so that tourists could fit into it. One thing we passed during the tour was the National Defence Sport Shooting Range where tourists could pay to fire weapons similar to those used in the war. I found this to be rather disrespectful given that this was a battleground where soldiers from both sides gave their lives. After lunch, we returned to the hotel and changed to walk to the War Remnants Museum. Previously known as the War Crimes Museum and the American War Crimes Museum, this building showed the war from the Vietnamese perspective. In the courtyard outside the museum were American artillery guns, a helicopter, and a few airplanes. The inside of the building focused on the human casualties. The entire museum portrayed the US Army as evil and inhuman killing machines. Highlighted in particular detail were the My Lai Massacre and the horrible consequences of Agent Orange. I don’t exactly have the words to describe how I felt leaving the museum. I felt rather disgusted to see Americans portrayed like this. At the same time I felt slightly guilty because I knew that the information was biased but not entirely incorrect. I find it amazing that the Vietnamese do not hate us after seeing the “history” that they learn.

Day Ten

Today started with another Vietnamese culture class at UEF. We learned about some more abstract parts of Vietnamese culture including the balance between Yin and Yang. They are quite concerned about things such as even and odd numbers and the direction that a house faces. Some of these beliefs are hard to understand and seem illogical to me. We had language class again today. I learned how to give more information about myself. A few things I learned to say in Vietnamese include the following: I go to the University of Pittsburgh, I am an engineering student, my university is in Pennsylvania. Tuan also taught me how to say something that I guess is practical however I don’t plan on using it ever. I also can’t see the Vietnamese using this choice phrase, given how happy and upbeat they seem to be. We ate lunch at the canteen again today. I will never complain about the selection at Market Central again. For lunch at UEF, 95% of the food is the same every day. However, the quality of the food at UEF is definitely better. Today our company visit was to CB Richard Ellis which is a real estate company. I know for sure I have heard this name before and I’m almost positive there is a branch not far from my house. When we arrived on site, we were told that our conference room was occupied by an important meeting which was running past its scheduled time. We relocated to a local coffee shop which was a few minutes’ walk away. The presenter Patti is an expat who moved to Vietnam in 1995. Her viewpoint on the country as a whole was much different than any of the others we had encountered. We had previously heard a positive business outlook and that Vietnam is the place to be if you are industrious and looking to be successful. She told us a much different story highlighted by a U.S. newspaper article detailing a major government-backed Vietnamese company which had defaulted on its loans. The government removed support for this company. This story has major implications for foreign investment in Vietnam and it may scare away companies looking to invest in the region. She also explained how money tends to disappear when dealing with the Vietnamese government. Patti also told us that education in Vietnam is very expensive.

Day Nine

Today was our first time back at UEF since Friday. The first thing today was a lecture on Vietnamese culture dealing specifically with ethnic history. I found it a little strange that there is a significant Chinese based population in southern Vietnam, considering that China borders Vietnam to the north. The history lecture was followed by language class. We learned some more practical Vietnamese, including some important words to use in a restaurant. After lunch, we headed to a building called e.Town which houses Glass Egg Digital Media. Austin, Kim, and myself were responsible for the pre-departure presentation on this company as well as for taking the lead in the question and answer session. Glass Egg is an outsourcing firm which does 3D art for the video game industry. They have traditionally focused on modeling cars for use in games such as Forza Motorsport, but they have expanded to include racetracks and sometimes game characters also. A newer area for Glass Egg is online gaming. They are looking to become the Vietnamese leader in this area as its popularity is growing very quickly in Vietnam. The majority of Glass Egg’s employees are artists. Employment is highly competitive as there is not much in the way of competition for the company in Vietnam. Potential artists are put through an intensive internship program if they are deemed qualified. At the end of the six month trial period, a few of the artists are hired. The employees are artists who are taught to apply their skills through 3D modeling software, as opposed to computer savvy people attempting to create art. Glass Egg Digital Media is a very successful company and it appears they will continue to dominate in Vietnam for some time. The owners of the company also happen to have part ownership in a club called Lush, which is also successful if not completely unrelated to the video game industry.

Day Eight

No visit to UEF today. Instead we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe. Kinda surprised me that they have a Hard Rock Cafe here. I wouldn’t have guessed that this type of thing would be successful in Vietnam, especially because it is almost entirely American. This is the reason I’m a middle class American student and not a hugely successful and wealthy businessman. I’ll leave that to David and Dan Thai. They co-own, if I understand correctly, Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company. The two Vietnamese brothers were raised in the United States. David is the founder of the company. Dan gave a large portion of the presentation today. He could not stay the entire time because he had another meeting to go to. He explained to us that Vietnam presents a very attractive market to Western businesses because of the growing economy, young population and their will to become Westernized. The centerpiece of Viet Thai is Highlands Coffee, which is like Starbucks except that it isn’t. It has sit down meals and uses a completely different type of coffee bean. Side note, Vietnamese coffee should come with a warning label. It is very strong. My chest was pounding after two cups. I thought it was interesting that Highlands actually wants Starbucks to come to Vietnam for direct competition. After Dan Thai’s presentation, we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Next we walked through a high end mall where Viet Thai owns quite a few stores. It amazed me that a brand like Armani could be successful in Vietnam where the average person makes between 1 and 3 US dollars per day and an Armani tie costs $150. We stopped at a Highlands Coffee in the shopping center. Next we headed to another Highlands store to which is attached a training center for new Highlands employees. Here the director of Highlands Coffee spoke to us. It was a relatively informal Q&A session and I was surprised how down to Earth and normal the presenter seemed.

Day Seven

Today we woke up early to take a hydrofoil boat ride to Vung Tao, a seaside city that borders the South China Sea. It was an hour and a half ride. I had never been on a hydrofoil before that was kinda interesting. When we arrived it was very hot, more than usual that is. It was like a tease because we could see the beautiful ocean from everywhere that we were, but we had to wait til later in the day to go swimming. Our first stop was a Buddhist bogota (I don’t think I spelled that correctly). Tinh showed us around the place and how Buddhist’s prayed for luck and other things. There were a lot of things for sale at the entrance which I found to be a rather odd collaboration with the whole religion idea. Jay and I paid a small amount to release little birds in front of a Buddha which is supposed to bring good luck for that day. After this we hiked to the top of a hill to see a statue of Jesus. The hike up the hill was pretty intense, definitely the most I have sweat so far on the trip. The view from the top of the hill was awesome. I guess it also makes for a great defensive position because there was an old very large gun at the top of the hill as well. We were able to climb on this and take pictures on it. Ate lunch after this, then headed to the beach. The beach was a lot of fun, Tinh made up some games for all of us to play. Took the hydrofoil home. We went to a Mediterranean place for dinner back in HCM city. It was absolutely amazing. Spaghetti has never tasted so good. It was the first time in a week I tasted non Vietnamese food and cheese.

Day Six

Bright and early wake-up this morning. This was followed by a roughly two hour bus ride to the Mekong Delta, which is south of Ho Chi Minh City. Our first stop was at a small cacao processing plant. This area is definitely rural and seems to be quite poor also. The facility did not smell good at all, particularly the fermenting cacao fruit. After this we headed to a “model farm” in the Delta, which we learned about at the ACDI/VOCA presentation yesterday. Here we got to see and taste some of the products made from the cacao plant, including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and the cacao fruit itself. I’m not sure if the chocolate was fresh but it was better than any Hershey’s I have ever had. Following the
farm visit, we headed to a boat ride in the Delta. We took a rather old wooden tourist boat around the Mekong river. The ride was narrated by a tour guide over the loudspeaker. The ride was very interesting and fun, but it did seem to be a sort of tourist trap with something for sale every ten feet. We returned to the hotel in late afternoon. Our group wanted to try a restaurant called Kichi Kichi which was recommended by the Plus 3 group from last year. A few students from UEF met us at the hotel to head to the restaurant. I went with Tuan separately from the rest of the group. We stopped at a bakery and picked out a cake for Alex’s birthday which was today. We then ate at Kichi Kichi, which I think is a Japanese restaurant but I’m not sure. Everyone got their own pot of broth and could pick things to put in it from a conveyor belt of various meats, fruits, and vegetables. I picked out an egg which was raw and cooked it in my pot. My egg had a brown shell. One of the girls in our group picked out an egg with a white shell to cook in her pot. Apparently the white egg shell indicates that instead of a raw egg, the shell contains a partially formed duckling. This is a delicacy in Vietnam, something that none of us realized. It was interesting to say the least. After we finished eating, the waiters brought out Alex’s cake and we all sang to him. He seemed very surprised. One of the UEF students had also gotten him a wooden model as  a gift.

Day Five

Today at UEF we learned about rural planning and development, specifically in the Mekong Delta area. The area is one of the primary agricultural regions of the country. The presentation was intended to prepare us for our trip to the Delta tomorrow. After this we had our language class. We reviewed our study of numbers and some specific phrases that we could use at the market in order to barter effectively. I feel like I will not gain a good grasp of the language, but I definitely know a few key phrases that help me to get by when English will not cut it. After lunch we headed to a small NGO (non governmental organization) called ACDI/VOCA with a smaller project called the Success Alliance. This dealt with the cacao farmers and helping them to refine their production process and increase the amount of money they can earn. The presentation was slightly scattered and unorganized but I still managed to get the basic idea of the project. They are currently funded by the USDA. After the presentation Dr. Berman explained to me the idea in more detail on the return walk to the hotel. My understanding is that the project is not intended to have a direct return for the United States. It is more of an altruistic type of aid investment in the Vietnamese economy. I do not understand all the politics involved but it seems that they program is good and is helping poor people to gain an improved quality of life. Tonight we went to a karaoke place. We ate there also. It was really enjoyable even though most of us are not very good at singing. Jake and Tom seem to be the ones who are actually relatively talented.