The end of something/the beginning of something

A day for memory lane, Friday (the last day), I think will be a day that none of us will forget easily. I guess I’m being sentimental but it started like this. Waking up at 7 or so we got ready for the Pitt versus UEF basketball and soccer game. A day hot beyond belief it was a huge struggle to play but play we did. All of us played in both games and both were honestly a ton of fun. UEF’s basketball team was really good but we tied it up with a win in soccer. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun being as sweaty as I was in a long time. After an eventful bus ride where everyone was in high spirits (a lot of singing was involved) we stopped by at a noodle restaurant that was not a good idea considering how overheated all of us was. However we all still managed to have a good time anyways passed out and asleep for the most part.

Good morning Saigon

Finally getting back to the hotel, some of us went swimming in the pool while others rested up and packed like I did. At around 3 I went out with a friend from UEF to hang out again. Getting back at 4:30 we got ready for the formal farewell dinner. Going to the event in formal wear and then seeing everyone in the lobby made the whole thing feel heavily like prom. Many pictures were taken which enhanced the feeling of the night as being a night to remember. 

Arriving at our destination still dressed up extremely nicely, we got onto a boat, yes a boat, and had a banquet style dinner. Everyone got along really well and had a ton of fun. I would describe the atmosphere as being very scenic with college kids just enjoying their last day abroad. The river was very beautiful and it just felt like a great time to be alive. 

Flower carrot

Alex the man

However, just like any occasion, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows like the pictures will make you think. The event itself was around 3 to 4 hours long and after the day before I've never felt so exhausted before. At around 9 I was starting to crash really hard and I couldn't bail like I normally would if I were back home. Also we were on a boat so that wasn't really an option. Everyone else was still enjoying themselves immensely but I felt like crap. This caused a metric ton of problems when I was supposed to be alert and on top of things when I wasn't. As a very sentimental occasion, this caused a lot of friction between me and some other people. The bus ride back was joyous for everyone else but I couldn't have felt worse.

Getting back at 10 or so we had about 4 hours just to prepare going back home. After packing I got to spend some time with people I’ll be leaving behind in Vietnam. When 2 am finally arrived it was a pretty sad time all around. Kate, our tour guide and amazing Vietnamese friend, was going to be left behind and that was pretty awful. I had an indescribably hard time leaving behind a special someone I met over those two weeks. If I had to put it into words I felt really empty.

In the airport I regret not saying goodbye to more of the amazing friends I made over the course of the trip because I felt so numb but such is life I guess. Some things just don’t happen even though they should. If you guys are reading this, you all helped make these past two weeks some of the best. Even though I've left Vietnam now I’m making it a promise to come back one day. Here’s to a great adventure and more great ones to come.

this city

A burning monk, a museum, and a lake

Writing this in hindsight, today was probably the most exhausting day by far which is impressive considering how action packed each day has been so far. I started the day along with everyone else by waking up to classes which were pretty interesting and fun as always especially language class. Then we had above expectations lunch as always at Kent University. This time however, we also went out onto the balcony which had the most spectacular view of Ho Chi Minh City I had yet to see. It ended up being a photo shoot where there were some pretty amazing pictures put up on social media later.

Pretty eh

Next we went to the Buddhist pagoda of the monk who burned himself in protest of the South Vietnamese government discriminating against religion. It was pretty inspiring to hear about the story and how impactful that time in history was for both Vietnam and the United States. The pagoda itself was beautiful and it was really nice to actually walk around the temples you see in pictures all the time but never actually be in. This definitely fueled my growing love for traveling.

Later (using progression of time propositions a lot in these blogs), we walked directly to the war remnants museum which fun fact, used to be called the American war crimes museum. It was pretty interesting to me how Vietnam went from being extremely anti-America to being one of the most pro-American countries in the world. The museum did a really good job of showing the horrors of war especially Agent Orange and the atrocities it caused. That one is going to be a hard one to live down. It also showed the bravery and ingenuity of the Vietnamese while highlighting the cruelty of the Americans. Although I feel as if America was very much in the wrong in many aspects of the war, I felt as if the museum presented the facts in such a one-sided nature that it was twisting the truth. I really want to see the American side of the story after experiencing the museum.

After a splendid dinner like always, a friend from UEF and I decided to just hang out in the city which, ironically, we both didn't know. We first went to a cute little bookstore which had some cool knick-knacks here and there. We then went to turtle lake which is going to haunt my memories for how amazing it is and later McDonald’s pretty early in the morning. As my second time going to McDonald’s in Vietnam I was really ashamed. It was a good day.

Chills

Falling in love with Ho Chi Minh City

Not sure what we were in for, we woke up to a cultural cooking class. Little did we know, that hotel also happened to be a five star hotel with the chefs teaching us how to make spring rolls. The place was seriously beautiful, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a fancier and well-decorated place in my life. The ceiling was high with a skylight and there were 12 feet tall plants in giant pots. The entire place just radiated with a glow of wealth and power. It was such a nice establishment in fact that I was inspired to become a millionaire just to have more of the nicer things in life I’ve encountered. After a history and a tour of the hotel as a hotspot for foreigners, we started our class. Basically, how to make spring rolls was to get some rice paper, get it wet with water, put in shrimp and other veggies, and then finally roll it up into a nice Vietnamese burrito. They didn’t even taste half bad either.

      

Following this class we were treated to the buffet of a high class five star hotel buffet which honestly ranks in the top 5 of my best meals of all time. There was so much food already prepared and available that I ate twice the amount I normally eat for a meal and was full for the whole day. They had these cuts of ham that make my mouth water writing this, and these amazingly well-seasoned sausages. I also ate some salmon and chips that were to die for. The rice was yellow with seasoning but tasted better than any rice I’ve ever had. Period. What was really worth writing about however were the desserts. Everything deserves mention but I only had the chocolate cake because I liked them so much. There was a raspberry filling in them that took the edge off the chocolate and just made it so much better. Other people swear by the lemon cake which was apparently “better than everything else by a mile” which I find hard to believe. Also there was a cocktail jelly drink which had a liquid and jelly part. Apparently it tasted “like a millionaire”. Words can do no justice for the spread we were given on that morning.

Afterwards we went to Saigon Newport which was a shipping and logistics site. It was pretty cool to see how Vietnam handles its unique logistics problems and how expansive their network is. With the conclusion of the presentation we were given a showing of the control tower where a lot of the expensive operational hardware and software was kept. The show really started when we were given a bus tour of the actual ship yard where we saw massive containers being lifted and placed. The hotel was our next destination.

Mmm shipyards

As with every other day, the evening was where things got interesting in Vietnam. Everyone sort of split up during the night and went out to get dinner in groups which really showed how things were changing. Instead of the massive groups of people that barely knew each other going out to get food, smaller tight groups of friends organized trips to go out and explore. What made things a lot better too was how everyone got along so well with everyone else.

What I ended up doing was seeing a few students from UEF who wanted to take me out to dinner and see the city. It was different for me because I was completely separated from the rest of the Pittsburgh people. They took me to an outdoor restaurant which was cool and then took me to a bridge which was a beautiful location at night. I felt so close with some of the students there and never felt so close and so appreciative of the city. I ended the day sitting in front of the tower that was filmed as Stark tower in the avengers bonding with the UEF students. It was a night I’ll never forget. 

Life affirment complete

Today our primary destination was one company trip divided into two site visits. The first was Singapore Industrial Park and the second was II-VI which is named after the two columns of periodic elements it turns into compounds. As an engineer it must be pretty cool to see the entire process of producing something from the ground up but I'm not an engineer. The foreign investment concept and seeing how Vietnam was growing through this investment was pretty cool from a business perspective. The factory visit was interesting to see just the contrast from our everyday lives. People doing repetitive things over and over again was dull and very life affirming for me. It made me realize life is tough sometimes and to stop seeing the negatives.

Afterwards we stopped by the most quaint restaurant I've ever seen. Seriously it just looked so peaceful, out of the way, and beautiful I would love to go there again someday. Also the food was really good and different from home so we had that going for us. Mid bite there would be a random rooster call so it also had a country feel I guess. I really wish I took pictures of that place.

Once the official day was done we were able to do our own thing which for some of us was go to the post office. It was a really cool place and centered around the picture of Ho Chi Minh at the end. Too bad it was so hot that day I found it hard to breathe everyone once in a while but that's okay.

                       

To finish up the day we all went to a Banh Mi place which had some of the cheapest and delicious sandwiches ever. I wish I got more of them in hindsight because the value on those things is ridiculous in business terms. 

Bad bargains and karaoke

Today we started the day with a Vietnamese language class which was really fun because we learned how to barter in Vietnamese. It got pretty rowdy when we tried to negotiate prices with each other and seemed like a really useful experience. When we finally got to Ben Tanh market which was supposed to be a really famous flea market, it looked really upscale for some reason. For a flea market the vendors just looked as if they had some pretty quality inventories but the place was really packed. It looked your average flea market but with three times the density in vendors. The vendors were really aggressive sellers and if it wasn't for my friend Ariel I would have gotten cornered really hard. I guess I just didn't expect prices to go lower than 50 percent which they were supposed to. For lunch we had this.

For our professional trip today we went to Vina Capital which is an investment firm. We learned about Vina Capital Foundation which is an offshoot and sponsors charitable activities. One of these of note is improving the community by sponsoring young girls to get an education. We found out that empowering girls greatly helps the neighborhood and community she lives in. The foundation's overhead is covered by Vina Capital which does your average investment portfolios which grows an investor's money while taking a commission. 

Later, Chris, Malik, Akhil, and I caved by deciding to head over to Mickey D's for a quick bite of what we were used to. Honestly the food was a lot better than I would like to admit. We did feel guilty however about wasting our time in Vietnam for something so common worldwide such as McDonald's. 

This is what guilt looks like

After some time resting we ate at a pancake place for dinner. They weren't really pancakes but fried rice patties with shrimp and other good stuff in them. I was pretty full but the food was good. This is when the night really starts getting crazy. We ended up going to some karaoke place which was actually really fun. Everyone sang their heart out especially Allen with dancing queen. My words at least cannot do the entire justice for just how pumped everyone was and how much fun Allen was having being the dancing queen. Seriously he's famous for it now. Here's some pictures I got.

Finally a few of us went to club Apocalypse which was supposed to be biggest and baddest club in southeast Asia. It was really fun going there but their water was way too expensive. 90,000 dong! Mac Qua!

We enter Jesus

As the beach day of the trip I had high expectations for the day which were...largely met. It was honestly a great time and it was cute seeing how close we were all getting. For a group of 20 we were getting along surprisingly well. After the 2 and a half hour bus trip, literally everyone was passed out and some of us got some pretty great pictures of everyone else. I was part of the sleeping crowd.

When we got there we hiked up a hill (mountain?) to reach this.

The journey up there was horrible and we had to wait about 20 minutes to actually get to the top of Jesus but the view was seriously impressive. I thought thought I was in a helicopter above Rio or something and it was an exhilarating feeling.

Rio?

The trip down was better but I still looked as if someone threw a bucket of water on me the entire time. Also, pro tip about Asian culture, we take so many pictures...soooo many. I don't but this entire trip it seemed as if UEF was filming a documentary about us. 

Arriving at the beach, we dived into the murky waters and had a great time doing fun water things like "name three things that aren't Jacky Chan". It's a lot harder than you think. Also Dan and Chris got to be the designated dads for dad jumps. We played chicken, swam a bit, and just got to be a bunch of kids on vacation. Later we had lunch at the fancy resort over several courses. It was good. After going back we played fun beach games such as capture the bottle. I'm pretty sure several of us got cuts but it was really fun to tackle people in the sand and try to pry the bottle from the fingers of whoever had it. Also I dived at Rachel in the water to get the bottle but was thrown off. She's a beast. 

After a 2 hour bus ride I passed out for again we finally got back at around 6:30 feeling very satisfied about our beach day. Later roughly half of us decided to go to the "best burger place in town" which it honestly was. The burgers were to kill for but not to wait for because the wait time was like an hour. The place was called soul burger and also played soul music as we ate. I love Vietnam.

I would definitely be a tunnet rat

Being such good kids on vacation we were rewarded Saturday morning with a very special field trip. We were going to crawl through tunnels in the ground, in 104 degree weather, with high humidity. The weather was pretty crazy but the trip in general was pretty nice. After a long bus ride, like we always do, we got to the Cu Chi tunnels where there was a display of a lot of American military hardware like this.


After a glorious lecture by Pete a.k.a snowball, we got to learn some of history behind the place and the genius behind the tunnels. The tunnels themselves were really small but I fit in them surprisingly well. I guess it helps that I not only look Vietnamese but I'm also very Vietnamese in size too. We were also shown traps that the Vietnamese made which as an American, was pretty uncomfortable for the group. I thought they weren't that lethal or terrifying though. After a comment about the traps my ex-roommate Alex Thornton said I would have been a tunnel rat or an American fighter in the tunnels back in the day. Thinking about it, I definitely agree and probably would have died in a hole somewhere if I had fought in the war.

(Not that) Scary stuff

After the not so blatant heat almost killed us we had lunch at the most beautiful location of all time. Seriously, not only was the food good but I had the most serene lunch imaginable. As well as the most serene bathroom break. That place is going to haunt my dreams.

As the follow up to lunch, we went to see the Cu Chi memorial for fallen Vietnamese soldiers and then the cemetery which was weird as an American to see. It was a bit awkward too see all the lives we, as a country, took from the world. However, since my parents were in China at the time I could totally see them supporting the North Vietnamese cause which was really weird. Extremely conflicting loyalties personally I guess.

  

Just like everyday, after the morning/afternoon official business we got to turn up... I mean enjoy a nice evening in the fantastic city of Ho Chi Minh City. Either way the guys went to a really upscale Vietnamese restaurant that was neither "cheap" not "fast". Thanks Bry Man. Afterwards we went to a club on the 32nd floor which seemed like a really good idea but wasn't really that amazing in the end. I guess I didn't get as much out of it as I could have on my end but the place was just too chaotic for my taste. It was a really nice view though.

Livin' it up

Brains and Quail Fetus

Waking up to the heat as usual, our Friday morning wasn't really that out of the ordinary. We woke up, had breakfast, took some classes. and had lunch with a view again at the neighboring university. It's pretty crazy how it only takes 2-3 days to fall into a routine actually. Afterwards we took a bus to this thing.



It's a actually a memorial to the Vietnamese commandos who stormed to the embassy during the war at the site of the embassy which I thought was pretty cool. Later we went inside the U.S. consulate which is where the embassy used to be and saw the memorial to the soldiers who died in defense of the embassy. It was really cool to see this dynamic and how there's always two sides to the story of a war.

Going into the consulate we got to sit down and talk with some of the officers there about foreign services and.....career options with the foreign services. It was a bit off putting how much of a sales pitch it became but it was really cool hearing about U.S. to Vietnamese relations.

Afterwards everyone went to the American center to talk about life in America with some Vietnamese teenagers while I got to do some staying behind. Bryan, out program director, was worried about my health from a few days ago so we stopped by a clinic. The doctor was really nice and we had a nice conversation.

After the 20 minute checkup I got to go back to the hotel....by myself....for 2 hours. It wasn't that bad though. I rested up a bit and got some downtime.

The really interesting part of the day came later when the girls wanted to do their self-proclaimed "girl's night" so the guys decided to get together for dinner. I don't think guy's nights exists but we got as close as it gets to a guy's night that night. Bo, a student from UEF took us to this place.




A pretty messy affair, we had what is known as a "hot pot" and cooked our own food. The group had a collective decision to try to quail fetus and brain of something which just proved we had an adventurous group of young adults. The brain was kind of squishy but I didn't try the fetus. I'm told it was really good and some guys took one for the road. I don't like conclusions.

Club Lights

Following into a routine we started our morning with a quick breakfast and then taking a bus to the two classes at UEF. HOWEVER, this time we stopped at a Chinese temple first, you who would have guessed in Vietnam, which was really cool. The entire courtyard was huge with a giant tree in the center providing a canopy of leaves over the whole place. It was not unlike many Chinese pagodas with the Buddha statues and the incense burning which we got to participate in. There were also turtles.



Language class was entertaining as usual and the culture class was a lot more dry but interesting to listen to. Lunch was really good as it usually is and then we were off to our second company visit of the trip.

Probably the coolest tour of the trip, Glass Egg Digital Media proved to be a really fun time. The CEO, Phil Tran, was a refugee from the war and then came back and made it big. As game developers, Glass Egg sells 3D art to other game developers and does very well in the outsourcing section. Almost everyone in the office looked as if they were in the twenties and somewhat enjoying their job.

For the night life, we ate at a Korean BBQ style Vietnamese BBQ that proved to be one of the best dinners so far. Cooking a chunk of salmon turned out to be really hard in the end and much a mess had to be made before it was finally to be eaten.

What really made the night stand out was our trip to Lush, a night club owned by Glass Egg ironically. Because we went to the parent company, the manager comped most of our drinks and that was just wonderful. I spent most of my time on the dance floor busting moves with everyone else. It was really awesome to just get pumped up to the music and have a great time with everyone else. Dan somehow got stickers all over his body and was swagging it out pretty hard. For a night where no one got that drunk, we had a blast.

We're Dropping Like Flies

So after two days of being the only weakling of the group, this morning we found out that two of us got sick overnight and had to stay in. This was pretty concerning because you don't stay in if you're on vacation (basically) unless you were really sick. After hearing of these unpleasantries we headed over to UEF to have our two classes in the morning.

Our first class was a history class of the area around Ho Chi Minh City and how it was shaped by wars, occupations, and invasions over the years. The professor had a few colorful remarks regarding China which I found pretty interesting such as that China always tries to build the "biggest and tallest things". Vietnamese language class was pretty involved and fun as usual and then we went for our amazing lunches as usual.

Following that we went to listen to a guy from U.S. commercial services who definitely has the best job in the world. He talks with the Vietnamese government and U.S. companies for U.S. investment and always has something interesting or exciting happening. Regardless of how stressful the job is it was really cool to get to know this kind of thing while we're still early in college.

We finished our day by going to a nice Vietnamese restaurant that the ever wonderful Kate recommended. At this point, our host/friend/tour guide was single-handedly showing us the nice places to go in Ho Chi Minh City. Afterwards she took us to a cake place to get some fantastic deserts and then took us to a rain forest themed kind of drink place that was oozing with awesome. If you're reading this cheers you Kate, you're pretty amazing.

A Night Out in the Town

Feeling a lot better than yesterday it was a lot easier to keep up with the fast paced schedule that is Plus3 Vietnam. However, since I've been bitter for long enough about how sick I am and I feel bad about everyone worrying about me, I'll try not to talk about it anymore.

We stared the day with a history class of Saigon which was followed by break. During said break, I somehow got separated from everyone else and got to meet some really cool students from UEF. Afterwards we had another language class which was hilarious because the students were half the size of a lot of us. I could fit in pretty well with them however and the whole thing turned out to be a really funny experience as Americans tried to master the various basic tones of Vietnamese. We didn't do half bad....I think.

For lunch we ate at the same place as yesterday which still had a majestic view of everything. The food was delicious and we had a great bonding experience.

After a 40 minute bus ride we arrived at the first site visit of Phu My Hung which by itself was a beautiful place. We were greeted by a very snazzy looking presentation room and a fancy presentation where clay models lit up to show construction taking place. Afterwards the host showed us some of the views which were just beautiful and answered any questions we had. It was a very satisfying trip but I felt as if the tour wasn't all that exclusive to the public.

At 7, a lot of UEF students took us into the town with the first place being the "best" place for pho apparently. The noodles and the broth were excellent but the establishment looked a bit worn down. I guess that improved the charm of the pho. Once we were done, Kate, our field trip leader basically, took us to a park square where we got to try the street food of Vietnam.



Finally, after a sightseeing walk back to the hotel everyone but me went a beer market which was apparently wild. I really wish I had but I decided to call it a night then.

Vietnam continues to impress.

Day 1

Starting off with a bang.....or not

After a total of 30 hours in the plane we finally landed in Vietnam where the first thing I noticed right away was the humidity. Seriously you can taste that. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that plane trips can dehydrate you and I underestimated how fast Vietnam can sap all the water out of you so I became that one really sick person in the group....To everyone that was with me, I'm sorry about all the complaining.

After a surprisingly amazing breakfast at the Victory Hotel which is where we're staying I arrived at the University of Economics and Finance feeling okay at first. As our bus pulled in the students greeted us with hugs and...flower necklaces (I don't know what they're called). This was followed up with a welcome ceremony where traditional and more modern dance performances were to be had. Several distinguished members of Vietnam were there too including the Chairman of Education and Training of Vietnam. Throughout the whole thing I was extremely impressed with how big of a deal they made this and how much they just seemed to love us being there. I wished I could reciprocate there but I was just dumbfounded by the ceremony. After 1 million pictures we had a learning Vietnamese lesson where I started to feel extremely downtrodden. I'm pretty sure the girl next to me trying to help me learn was half concerned about me and half not amused with how I wasn't paying attention.

As lunch began I completely crashed and Bryan, our chaperon, had to drag me back to the hotel so I could recover. Thanks Bryan. Feeling somewhat better after drinking a massive amount of water and having a 5 hour nap I went with everyone else to the welcome dinner UEF provided for us. It was a really nice spread of Vietnamese style food but I couldn't really eat anything so that sucked. Also I came really close to throwing up once so that wasn't good. After the amazing dinner I mostly missed, we headed back to our hotel to rest for the next day.

I didn't take many pictures but here's one of a catholic church on our way to dinner.