Today was the day many of us had been looking forward to: cooking classes. It actually turned out differently than we had expected. We were originally supposed to go to some fancy restaurant on an island somewhere in one of the rivers, where they would teach us how to make spring rolls. The cooking lessons still happened, but the locations changed. Instead of a nice restaurant on the waterfront, we were taken to (seriously) a 5-star hotel in the middle of the city. Now, none of us had any problems with the hotel we were staying in, but you could definitely tell that this place was on a whole other level. Just walking in, everything felt fancy. Just the lobby gift store had jewelry that was so far above my budget, somewhere in the hundreds of dollars. We got taken on a mini "tour" of parts of the hotel, which I think was just an excuse to get the big group of rowdy college students out of the way until the kitchen was ready for us. It was nice though: we got to hang around a cute little garden and admire the giant pool. The whole feel of the place was distinctly different from anywhere else we'd been so far on the trip. I can understand wanting to have nice accommodations, but I think most of us felt that staying in a place like that would have robbed us from experiencing the country as it really was. It wouldn't have been nearly as authentic. Nevertheless, we were all prepared to enjoy the experience while it lasted.
We were finally brought down to the restaurant area, and were immediately floored by the buffet. Our cooking class was to take place right next to their fancy buffet area, and I've never seen a more enticing display of edibles. Literally anything you could have wanted, from Asian to European and American. They had an entire table just full of fancy-looking desserts. Pulling our eyes away from the food, we began the cooking lesson. They taught us how to make two things, fresh shrimp spring rolls and friend pork spring rolls. We all got to take turns making the spring rolls, to varying degrees of success. I'm proud to say mine turned out alright (relatively). It was a hard process because it involved wetting rice paper, which, for those who have never done it before, makes the rice paper really sticky. Once we were done, though, we got to enjoy the fruits of our labor, and then some. They made the mistake of turning us loose on the buffet. Reminiscing on the experience, most of the details blend together in a sort of food haze, but I remember it involved bread, many different meats, sushi, fancy cheese, soups, steamed buns, more spring rolls, and five or six different types of dessert. I'd say it was a pretty special meal.
(Side note, but this hotel was so fancy that the guy in the "Man" sign on the bathroom door had a pocket square. I'll post a pic)
After lunch, we headed off to Saigon Newport Corporation, which was basically a big port. They gave us an interesting presentation on their involvement with the Vietnamese government, since their cooperation with the navy helps facilitate their business. They took us up to the control room so we could get an overview of the whole port. It was basically shipping containers as far as the eye could see, but it was more interesting than it sounds. After that, we drove the bus around the port for a while so we could get a closer look.
In the late afternoon, most of us went back to the market for another shopping trip. Most of us left after the market closed, but I and a few others stayed and had dinner by the market. I had snails. Afterwards, an outdoor market opened up in the streets around the indoor market, so we did even more shopping there, and I finally finished my souvenir shopping. It only took me three trips to do so.
To finish off the night, a bunch of us walked a dozen blocks from the hotel to go to a Dairy Queen, which was great, and then came back to the hotel to get remeasured for our suits. The tailor had all our outfits half-finished, so we got our first look, and they looked great! We were definitely pretty excited for the finished product.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Monday, October 19, 2015
Tuesday: Day 9
Tuesday was the big day, the day of our company visit. We didn't have class in the morning, and instead went straight to the first location. We had a long bus ride a little ways out of the city to the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP), the first company of the day. Our company, II-VI, is located in the industrial park, so the two companies gave their presentations together. We got off the bus, decked out in our fancy clothes, and walked through a lobby area of their "presentation building". The center of the lobby was taken up entirely by a big overhead model of the industrial park, so we got to see how it was laid out. The model was really cool because it showed all the different sections of the park, as well as some of the infrastructure. The walls of the lobby housed display cases showing off a bunch of the different products that are produced in the industrial park, including some of the products made by II-VI. After looking around for a bit, we were led into a big conference room, where we learned about each company. The presentations were surprisingly interesting. The industrial park is the result of cooperations between the Vietnamese and Singapore governments. The parks basically try to create a perfect environment for businesses so that they can focus solely on making products without having to worry about things like infrastructure or space. The park takes care of everything from road construction and maintenance to fire safety and water treatment. They even have their own customs offices so companies can get their goods cleared on site and not have to worry about that later on. They also have amenities for the workers, with living spaces and restaurants.
Our company, II-VI, was really cool for all the engineers. The company mainly deals in specialty electronics and optical parts. They have locations around the world, in the US, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia, and are actually headquartered near Pittsburgh. We were all excited because we would get to see their factories. I thought my group asked a lot of very interesting and educated questions, which was great.
After the presentations, we headed back to the buses to drive to the factory. It had started to rain, which was a welcome respite from the oppressive heat, expect we were all in nice clothes that we didn't want to get wet. Luckily, it was just a few dozen feet from the bus to the entrance. The factory was super cool. For most of us (including me), it was our first experience seeing a real assembly line factory. We got to see all the different steps in making a lot of the optic lenses that the company produces, as well as the assembly of some of their specialty electronics. It all looked really intense and science-y. Most of the workers are Vietnamese, and they're all trained in-house by the company. Apparently, they had had problems retaining some of the workers in the past, because a lot of the migrant workers would make enough money to live off for a couple month and then quit and go home to their villages. They told us about a lot of the benefits that they started using to keep workers for longer periods of time, which makes sense considering the time it takes to train them. Overall, it was a really cool experience, one that was unlike any I've had so far. That's a recurring theme of the trip, though.
On the way home, we stopped at some restaurant for lunch, and the food was incredible even by the high standards of the rest of the trip so far. They just kept bringing out courses and courses of food. It all had a more Chinese feel than some of the other food we'd had so far, but it was still great. After dinner, Sam ordered Jasmine tea (of course), and shared it with the rest of us like the "good guy" he is. When we finished, though, they took the tea pot and brought out more tea. They did this three or four times. We were all pleasantly surprised.
In the afternoon, we all hung around the hotel for a couple hours. A lot of people went to the pool. I think I took a nap. For dinner, we went out for banh mi at a roadside stand. Each time I got banh mi in Vietnam, it was prepared with different ingredients, and each time was stellar. Banh mi was one of the things I looked forward to the most before the trip, and they didn't disappoint. The rest of the night consisted of us all hanging out together and preparing ourselves for the culinary adventure that the next day would bring (5-star hotel-- we were pretty excited).
Our company, II-VI, was really cool for all the engineers. The company mainly deals in specialty electronics and optical parts. They have locations around the world, in the US, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia, and are actually headquartered near Pittsburgh. We were all excited because we would get to see their factories. I thought my group asked a lot of very interesting and educated questions, which was great.
After the presentations, we headed back to the buses to drive to the factory. It had started to rain, which was a welcome respite from the oppressive heat, expect we were all in nice clothes that we didn't want to get wet. Luckily, it was just a few dozen feet from the bus to the entrance. The factory was super cool. For most of us (including me), it was our first experience seeing a real assembly line factory. We got to see all the different steps in making a lot of the optic lenses that the company produces, as well as the assembly of some of their specialty electronics. It all looked really intense and science-y. Most of the workers are Vietnamese, and they're all trained in-house by the company. Apparently, they had had problems retaining some of the workers in the past, because a lot of the migrant workers would make enough money to live off for a couple month and then quit and go home to their villages. They told us about a lot of the benefits that they started using to keep workers for longer periods of time, which makes sense considering the time it takes to train them. Overall, it was a really cool experience, one that was unlike any I've had so far. That's a recurring theme of the trip, though.
On the way home, we stopped at some restaurant for lunch, and the food was incredible even by the high standards of the rest of the trip so far. They just kept bringing out courses and courses of food. It all had a more Chinese feel than some of the other food we'd had so far, but it was still great. After dinner, Sam ordered Jasmine tea (of course), and shared it with the rest of us like the "good guy" he is. When we finished, though, they took the tea pot and brought out more tea. They did this three or four times. We were all pleasantly surprised.
In the afternoon, we all hung around the hotel for a couple hours. A lot of people went to the pool. I think I took a nap. For dinner, we went out for banh mi at a roadside stand. Each time I got banh mi in Vietnam, it was prepared with different ingredients, and each time was stellar. Banh mi was one of the things I looked forward to the most before the trip, and they didn't disappoint. The rest of the night consisted of us all hanging out together and preparing ourselves for the culinary adventure that the next day would bring (5-star hotel-- we were pretty excited).
Monday: Pictures
Food stalls in the market
Definitely the biggest durian I've ever seen
Banh Xeo, half eaten because it looked so good that I forgot to take a picture before I started eating
Karaoke!
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