Vietnamese Culture Club: Ho Chi Minh City Day Five

Instead of visiting a company today, we spent the entire day at UEF.

We first had a lecture about the Mekong Delta. Naturally, the area is great for growing rice and rubber trees. Because it's so wet in the area, instead of using cows to plow the fields, the main work animal is the buffalo. Because of this significance, the buffalo has become the animal mascot of Vietnam. Along with agriculture, the area is really good for fishing, and the catfish industry is a big part of the Vietnamese economy. After the lecture, we had a language class where we were introduced to the number system. I felt that as an engineer, it helped me understand this class the most out of all the language classes. It was a lot easier to remember the class material, and even in Vietnamese language class I can see why I chose to be an engineer. After the normal classes, we had a culture sharing event at the university library. Although we were in the library, we were allowed to be extremely loud during the activities. We did several activities, such as guessing various exotic fruit through only the use of touch, passing an eggplant down a line using only our knees, and whispering a Vietnamese phrase down a line as it was lost in translation (literally). During the activities, both the Pittsburgh and Vietnamese students worked together and had fun even though we were from different countries. Afterwards, we had dinner at a famous Banh Xeo restaurant.

It was a lot similar to the kind that my mom made at home, but instead of just bean sprouts, mine also had these Vietnamese green beans inside too. Following dinner, a few of the Vietnamese students took us on their motorbikes around the city.

 

Traffic is usually crazy just seeing it, but driving in it on a busy Friday night was even crazier. I even got a video of it to share with everyone back home.

Motorbike Video

We drove all around district one, and we had a traditional Vietnamese dessert in this crowded alleyway. Even though the alley was so busy, tons of Vietnamese people came there to eat these soup-like desserts.

After dessert, the Vietnamese students let us actually drive their motorbikes in a secluded area. It wasn’t too difficult, but it probably is a lot harder when there is tons of traffic everywhere. After riding around the city for a long time, we were dropped off at the hotel to get ready to sleep.

Glass Egg: Ho Chi Minh City Day Four

Today at UEF, we had a lecture on the culture of Vietnam. Afterwards, it made more sense as to why the Vietnamese people are not so friendly with the Chinese. The main group of Vietnamese originated from Vietnam, and were eventually pushed out by Chinese invaders. However, it seems that the Vietnaese have never yielded when it comes to the large amount of invaders that attacked their new home. We then had another language class, where we learned a few more phrases. It seems like I'm getting the accent of the language more as I spend more time around people who speak the language. It really makes it a lot easier to learn the language. After that, we visited Glass Egg Digital Media, which is a company that designs 3D car models for video games. Even though they are a small Vietnamese company that employs around 200 people, a lot of famous companies like Microsoft and EA work with them and use their designs in really popular games like Need 4 Speed and Battlefield. The work area was as advanced as a lot of American companies, and the view from the CFO’s office was amazing.

 What’s amazing is that even though Vietnam is a smaller developing company, companies like Glass Egg are the leaders in their field. That just goes to show the potential of the industries in the area. After glass egg, we had some down time at the hotel. Because the Vietnamese students were busy during dinner time, we headed to a small restaurant down the street by ourselves. I ordered the seafood fried rice, and although it was really cheap, the food was really fresh and delicious.

After dinner, the Vietnamese students took us to this cool place to hang out called in the middle of the city on a roof top. It was a small place on a rooftop.

The place wasn’t too fancy, but we talked to some really interesting people. Overall, we talked to a group of French Lawyers and a group of world travelers from Israel, South Africa, and the Netherlands. One part I really enjoy about Ho Chi Minh City is how diverse the culture is. Even though it’s Vietnamese, there are all types of different cultures like French and American because of the involvement of the countries throughout history. After the time at Broma, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for another day.

VSIP/ II-VI: Ho Chi Minh City Day Three

After being here three days, the mornings in the hotel are all about the same. At UEF we had another language class, and we learned a few adjectives to describe things. Afterwards, we headed to VSIP, which is the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park.

Basically, the park offers everything necessary for a business to operate, which includes things such as providing land and pre-built factories to other more obscure things such as handling customs. A lot of different businesses operate in the park.

One business in particular that we visited at the park was II-VI, which is a technology company that specializes in optics and thermoelectric devices.

What was crazy was that I worked an entire semester on thermoelectric research back at the University of Pittsburgh, and the tour of the factory showed the entire manufacturing process for the TEM cooling systems. With my experience, I was able to discuss with the man in charge of production about all of the science behind II-VI’s products, and we even both understood the different terms related to the science. It was incredible how the same common methods that I studied in the United States were universally understood even by Vietnamese scientists. We then ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant near the park, which had delicious seafood.

We also visited a ceramic shop that had all types of dishware and other odds and ends.

Afterwards, the Vietnamese students took us to a “French” restaurant, and I had crocodile with barbecue sauce. Although the meat was tougher than what I was used to, it actually tasted really good. The French fries reminded me a bit of home too.

After that I went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day in Vietnam.