Saigon Newport Corporation/ War Remnants Museum: Ho Chi Minh City Day Ten

After all the different events we've done recently, we finally went on a regular company visit. We visited Saigon Newport Corporation, which is Vietnam's largest shipping and logistics company.

They gave us a presentation about their company, but one of the most interesting parts was when she gave her personal opinion about the current political conflicts between China and Vietnam. Just like the lecturer at UEF, she had the same sort of opinion of hating only the government of China. Even though she was giving a professional presentation, she still gave her honest response and was very passionate about how Vietnamese don't hate the Chinese people, just the government. After the presentation, we visited the room which controls all the cranes at the shipyard as well as the docking of all the ships.

From there, we could see how large the shipping area really was. After that, we actually were able to drive through the shipping area, which I didn't think we would be able to do.

I feel like if this was in America, there would have been way too much security to let us into the area, but it seemed normal to the Vietnamese. After the site visit, we had lunch at the hotel, and then we visited the War Remnants Museum.

Visiting the museum was a humbling experience, because of how it put all the atrocities of the American War right out in front.

After visiting the museum, we went to an old fashioned Hanoi style coffee shop. We had to take our shoes off at the door, and we sat on cushions on the ground instead of in chairs. After the coffee shop, we had dinner with an American English teacher that has lived in Vietnam for almost a decade. It was at the same restaurant we ate at the second day, but we were a lot more informed about Vietnamese food, so we knew exactly what to order. After dinner, Scott and I went to the metal lotus park near our hotel with two graduates from UEF. We talked for awhile, and as a banker, she told us that most of her job was taught to her after she got the job there. I guess that's similar to how it is in America, where the lessons and grades in college are only used to qualify for a job. One of the interesting things is that when the police officers drove by, all the street vendors ran into the park to hide their goods. Apparently, selling things on the street is against the law, but I guess people don't follow that law. I'm actually glad no one follows that law though, since the street food is one of my favorite things about Vietnam. After we spent some time at the park, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day.