Day 9

Today a majority of the group woke up early to take Andrew up on his offer on going to a French Pastry shop a ‘block away’. Now I have finally understood his margin of error with a block and it’s roughly a one to two mile radius. Regardless we went on a voyage and found this amazing pastry shop. They had literally everything you could dream of and it was so good. I got about 5 different pastries for a total of 2 dollars ≈ 40,000 dong, this was shocking because this in the states should probably be about 3 dollars for each pastry I had. It turns out many amazing French shops remain from French influences when they ruled in Vietnam. This can also be seen in various structures as French Architects had a great impact of many structures that remain today.

After the scrumptious breakfast we headed to a business related stock market Viet Capital Securities Company. There we were briefed shortly on what the company did, as many Vietnamese people watched 3 stock screens that represented a majority of businesses in Ho Chi Minh City. This was a little harder to grasp but I believe the company simply sold stocks to interested buyers, the Vietnamese carefully studying the screens. Despite the size of this condensed room it reflected any typical stock market across the world, people anxiously awaiting a valued purchase and brokers selling stocks. It was another very unique experience to add to my list of what I witnessed in Vietnam.

Once finished a bit early than expected we changed gears into Tourist mode and went traveled to the Tax Center. This building was like any American Mall three stories tall containing as many upscale products you could imagine. It was very westernized and a flashback to shopping at home versus the typical Vietnamese Markets. Here however bartering, as Vietnamese custom, was in effect and that meant I was determined to get the lowest price always. Rayna and I went searching on the top floor for gifts for our parents and family and turned out quite successful.

Lunch was at the Victory Hotel buffet so as a group we headed back and began feasting. Today my stomach had recovered to about half strength so as Dr.Berman offered snakehead fish to me and I obliged. I still, however, tried the soft serve Vietnamese ice cream and it was phenomenal. This rekindled a memory to Ice Cream I have eaten before at the Chincoteague Beach. The kind they serve at the mini-putts that is part gelatin and sooo good.

Next the group gathered and we traveled to E-Town 2 located next to E-Town, which housed Glass Egg Digital Media. There we met with the CEO’s of Ascenx Technologies and were given a very detailed presentation. Their company, Ascenx, consists of electrical and mechanical engineers that work on remanufacturing old technologies to newer more efficient ones. What these engineers do is remarkable because it’s extremely innovative and rigorous having to work on projects for generally 3-months at a time and completely redesign the initial product. A few examples were changing old computer monitors into flat screen space efficient ones. As an engineer it is so inspiring see what can actually be done with the knowledge I am learning through college.

On top of the presentation Tung T. Bach had an amazing story tying into everything we have been learning about the Vietnam-American War and it’s relations to the Vietnamese people of how it has affected differently. His story was of his uncle who was great naval officer of South Vietnam. He had wanted to escape to the refuge island in 1975 but his grandfather said no. As a result of his uncle’s defiance he was sent to a re-education camp. Regardless his uncle had a brilliant mind and an instinct to survive as well as Tung’s mother who rode a day away to the camp to support him for 3 years. After this time he finally escaped with two others navigating at night through the rivers of Vietnam. He then remained totally aliased only confiding in family, devised more plans to escape to the refuge island. Eventually he had 3 tickets to leave for the United States and he chose him because his mother’s loyalty and his youngest sister because she most likely to live the longest. It was remarkable that he was picked over brother’s son as in Vietnamese tradition he would be selected. To accomplish everything the Uncle told him they were just going to the field. Next thing he knew they were boarding boat in the Mekong Delta and covered with fish to remain hidden. His uncle navigated away from Viet Cong ships out to the ocean and had everything planned to sail like a mastermind. Once finally at the Refuge Island Tung realized never see mom or dad he was very sad but his uncle became both his father and mother. That’s where he traveled to California and met his partner another Vietnamese-American and eventually established Ascenx. Now a 1.2 million company they are extremely thankful for the United States involvement in Vietnam. War clearly had impacted people negatively but there are some, like this, unbelievable success stories. They were so polite and positive they even took us out to have coffee with them. This was probably the most amazing experience I had in Vietnam with such kind people. It speaks wonders how their business has had such success as they themselves have such amazing character. They are something I one day aspire to be.

Once we finished our time at Ascenx we were recommended to go to ‘Black Cat’ for the best burgers in Vietnam. This was a great decision as these burgers were unmatched in Vietnam they were incontension, in my mind, with any burger in the states. On top of everything it was nice continuing a stabilizing trend for my stomach. It would surprise you after a certain time in a country how refreshing having food from home can be. At the end of the night the group went out and had a great time interacting with Vietnamese residents out at Club Lush.

Day 8

Today we woke up to same routine like a typical Monday. For breakfast I recovered ten fold by drinking Vietnamese Gatorade, ‘Revive’, and eating their saltine crackers to try and regain some stability in my digestive track. Slowly but surely I think I’ll eat my way back into recovery. After breakfast I put in a notice with the hotel about the money I lost and then we packed into our trusty bus and headed off to UEF for class.

Upon entry at the University Tony approached me and set up playing basketball at night at the local stadium with his friends we had ice cream and ‘caphe’ with. I then headed to Vietnamese Culture class where we learned about the ancient history of Vietnam. The highlights of the lecture that stick out in my mind were that Vietnam had fended off Genghis Khan, one of the most powerful Chinese emperors, three separate occasions, through their tactical knowledge of the North Vietnam land. Eventually Vietnam attempted to completely remove Chinese ideals from its culture. To do this they first had to remove Confucianism and decided to replace it with Buddhism. However the Vietnamese government decided since Buddhism doesn’t have any order within its fundamentals they instituted that the capital is surrounded by a Confucian temple and practice. This lecture was very informative and so interesting.

Inbetween Culture and Language class I stopped by the Can Tin, their cafeteria, and stocked back up on Revive to keep feeling better. I also tried the bread looking croissant that was half butter half bread and somewhat tasty.

Language class was half a review day and half learning counting. I have personally had difficulty with listening and performing Vietnamese since I am a visual learner, but the numbers were a lot easier to recite. We found out also Friday there will be an exam covering the expressions and numbers covered throughout the week.

At lunch at the can tin I ate rice and had some grumbling going on inside me but definitely feeling a lot better than Sunday. The chiefs also figured out what we like and served only rice, French fries, bread, shrimp, and a type of beef. Next we headed over to University of Agriculture and Forestry. We were given 3 presentations on the University’s History, Vietnam USA Catfish History and the University's involvement in Catfish. Though very through it had been a long day and the presentations were a little tiring. It is pretty remarkable their significant growth since starting the program in the late 1990s. After the presentations they drove us to our last stop, an on campus research facility where they focus on producing better environmentally friendly food for the mass produced catfish. We took some perfectly staged photo ops and began the trek back home.

Upon arrival we went immediately to the COOP or the local Vietnamese Grocery store and stocked up on much needed goods. Then us guys, Justin, Matt, David, and myself, headed to play basketball with Tony and his friends. It took forever to get there but it was so worth it. The rim had to have been shorter because I could almost dunk and somehow our rag tag American team was very successful. We ended up playing the Vietnamese Los Angeles Lakers, all matching uniforms and awesome fake LA jerseys. Tony and his friends were very excited to see us play and we all had a blast, but sweat sooo much. After an hour or so we called it quits and returned to our hotel only to hear of an amazing Irish Pub, ‘‘O’Brien’s”. Immediately Justin, Matt and I left. There we consumed the most American hamburger I had eaten in weeks. Life was good and as we ate we were giggling with joy. It was hysterical. We came back and the girls hung out with us for a bit before we all headed for bed.

Day 7

Today is the beach day and I am laying in my hotel room sick too my stomach. All of the Vietnamese food and bad decisions from previous days has finally hit me. I have been sitting on my porcelain throne for many times this morning alone. I am going to call this my sick day.

Tried to go out to a restaurant later when everyone returned but it didn't start off too successful when I left 2,000,000 dong in the ATM and it was taken when I came back. Rough day both physically and mentally, looking forward to tomorrow.

Day 6

Today we were traveling to the Mekong Delta and unfortunately due to the long drive from the Victory Hotel we had to be ready by an hour earlier. This however changed no routine regarding my favorite egg maker from the breakfast buffet. She knew we were coming and prepared a platter of breakfast eggs instead of individually cooked eggs. This was awesome. And to top it off my debit card finally worked and I could once again become a millionaire in Vietnam.

Once the troops gathered we packed into our van for the longest trip of our entire trip estimating a total of two hours one way. The guys figured we would finally blog and take advantage of this time, I however was incapable of being productive and pushed it off until now.

For the duration of the trip my stomach began to fight back all the Vietnamese Food Culture I was taking on through the course of the week. Then on our own rest stop I decided trying fresh coconut milk, which down the road was a bad decision. It had a very mild taste and after I finished trying to gulp down the coconut Kien had the coconut cut in half so I could try the inner shell. This gelatin textured inside actually tasted nothing like coconut I imagined and was quite surprising.

We left that rest stop and traveled through our previous site visit of Phu My Hung. Crossing over the very large longest bridge in Vietnam we had arrived at the Vinacaca® coco drying facility. There we saw the coco plant in its most basic stage as a pod of many varying colors from red, orange, yellow and green. The tour guide showed us the stages in making chocolate out of the coco plant. The first stage was cracking the multicolored shell and revealing the slimy looking coco beans starting out initially white. They taste horrible at this point, very bitter and just overall nasty. After the coco beans are removed they are laid out in bulk on burlap rugs to dry then put in the back of the warehouse to ferment. Once the fermenting process finishes the beans retain a darker brown color still tasting bitter but actually resembling a chocolate esk taste. It’s crazy thinking that someone just thought to dry this coco bean and make chocolate out of it. When the tour of the of aroma filled warehouse ended they gave us an informative presentation and then we were on our way to lunch.

The lunch happened to be located on some random side road but held a hidden oasis of ponds, palm trees, fruits, hammocks and finally a restroom. From an engineering perspective all the man made ponds containing hundreds of coy and various aquaculture was remarkable. The lunch was the typical Vietnamese rice, chicken, and unknown meat referred to as ‘beef’ by the locals. That generally has no significance, as it could be rabbit, squirrel, dog, cat, wolf, bear, tiger, lions, or whatever you could imagine. After lunch we were on our way to the coco production plant where they determined ripe coco beans through hand inspection. They are able to identify good and bad beans based off of pictures provided.

Next they took us to their taste testing facility and gave a presentation in Vietnamese where Mr.Tin attempted to translate. This definitely felt like a lost in translation moment because for full Vietnamese paragraphs he mentioned 2 or 3 words. The process of taste tasting was brutal. My initial assumption of the chocolate taste was much sweeter and scrumptious. However I was proven entirely wrong as the 4-5 samples ranged from sour and bitter, bitter as hell or sour as hell. This in the long run was also a bad decision for my current stomach status.

Next we visited the coco farm. Driving back from the coco plant we took a random series of streets and pulled over alongside what appeared to be the tropics. We turned and saw a single path that lead deep into the tropical forests. Along this path, lined with palm trees and waterways, shallow rivers outlined it. The rivers were filled with various coconuts, plants and aquaculture. As we walked we finally saw the coco trees and the coco plant. The farmers live all along the path so they can harvest daily and easily. It was quite a spectacular environment having all kinds of animals and insects. There were tons of fire ants and a few students got bit. I fortunately only had to use the bathroom and I didn’t get eaten. This however was an adventure of it’s own.

Since I had been having stomach problems I was hoping there might possibly be running water and a toilet. That however was an unrealistic hope considering there was absolutely no running water. Instead my first location was a concrete floor enclosed by a wall, I then asked where the hole or toilet was and the locals laughed uncontrollably. I then followed Kien and the farmer to a concrete deck that lead into the middle of a pond with fish visibly swimming in. You can generally put together what I had to do next, and yes this was a first.

On our agenda after the tour of the coco farms we headed to the bus but made another bad decision in trying the local sugarcane juice. They take bamboo and crush it through a machine and drain the juices into a bag with ice and sell it for 25 cents ≈ 5000 dong. This tastes good but doesn’t go through the system easily. For the next two hours as my stomach swirled round and round as the bus traveled back home, well the Hotel. It was unanimous that all of us were ready for some American food and we thought what better place to eat than KFC.

As group we were so dedicated to this we immediately went there after we were dropped off. Rushing to the KFC we ordered the chicken popcorn and awaited our meal. Inhaling the Vietnamese style KFC with all the greases and juices oozing down our throats we were not ready for the continued stomach problems afterwards. When we waddled back to the hotel I think Matt and Mike both upchucked and I wish I had. With the duration of the day we all passed out in attempt to recover some energy before the guys went out with Tony to a Vietnamese Alternative-Rock Bar. The place we went to was at the base of a Hotel called Huong Long. There we listened to American Music song perfectly by a Vietnamese female vocalist. It was an amazing time and Andrew played drums during for about 5 songs. What a great night.