Day 10

Today wasn’t the greatest day. Probably one of the most boring days I’ve had in Vietnam. It was completely business visits. Some visits have been very interesting, but today was a struggle.

Our first stop was at Saigon Newport. They are the largest shipping company in Vietnam. Their main service is to ship anything overseas. We were given a small presentation about the company’s services and their background. Afterwards, we were given a tour of the control tower which was interesting. I didn’t know really understand much of what was going on since there were so many different color coded charts with random numbers. It was very confusing to try to decode. Next, we drove around to the shipping areas where we got to see some of the loaded ships and the huge collection of products that are waiting to be shipped. It must be very difficult to keep track of all the shipments, when they need to be shipped, where the destination is, how much to ship on one load, etc. There’s a lot going on to maintain stability.

Once we were done at Saigon Newport, we went to UEF for lunch and some iced coffee. I’m usually not a big coffee person, but Vietnam’s coffee is amazing. It’s very strong and sweet and tastes more like a frappacino. I’m hoping I can find some Vietnamese iced coffee back in America. After lunch, we still had about another hour left so I took a nice nap before the next visit.

Our next stop was at Quang Trung Software Company. I know absolutely nothing about computers, so I knew I wouldn’t be too interested. The two representatives that showed us around weren’t prepared and seemed like they didn’t know what they were doing. Their slide show was very vague, and they didn’t answer the questions very well. It seemed like we were blindly walking around. They could’ve done a better job with preparing.

TMA Solutions was our next visit. They were a bit more organized. We took a tour and were able to go into a few of their office rooms. Their office setup is different than those in the US. There are long tables that are lined with workers. They don’t have their own cubicle. Instead of everyone having their own cubicle or desk, there are long tables that are lined with computers. It promotes more socialization, but I feel like it would be hard to get things done sometimes. Next, there was a slideshow about the company’s services and background. It was longer than I had expected, and I struggled to pay attention through most of it. It was all talk about computers, so it went through one ear and out the other. I’m sure it was great for the computer engineers to learn about the company but for an accounting major, it wasn’t interesting at all.

Since everyone really enjoyed the street vendor food yesterday, we decided to try another one. We went to this small vendor that served ice cream. Why not have dessert before the actual dinner? It was vanilla ice cream with nuts and fruit. It was so good and only 50 cents. Never again will I be able to find food so cheap. Next, we went to the Kichi-Kichi hotpot for dinner. It was so awesome. We each have our own broth that we order and have it heat up on the stove in front of us. There’s a conveyor belt that runs across the table with different things you can put in your pot. It’s sort of like a buffet set up because you can take as much as you want. I’ve never seen anything like it in the US, so it was pretty cool to see.

Now we’re back in our hotel chillin and trying to get our blogging done like usual. Tomorrow, we’re going to the Cu Chi tunnels. I’m excited but crawling around with my leg injury and now my swollen ankle shouldn’t be easy. It should be interesting though.