I had my first opportunity to visit Vietnam as we have a relatively new supplier located there. This was one of those surreal trips for me as in the US we have a "painted picture" in our minds of Vietnam from the silver screen and of the relatively recent history of the past 30 to 40 years. This was my parent's generation "Iraq". I flew into Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as most people in the world know it. I quickly realized that my painted picture was distorted and that Saigon is a very busy city with tremendous development underway.The first thing that jumps out at you is the shear number of motorcycles and scooters. It seems every one has one as there are literally millions of them and it seems like they are all on the road at the same time. Surprisingly the pace of traffic with all of these scooter is still rather expeditious.
As with most supplier visits, I do get to taste local food and flavor. For dinner one night we ate at this outdoor style resaurant along the Saigon river. Vietnamese food is delicious and ranged from spicy sea food to tangy beef to the freshest vegetables I have ever tasted. This picture is of a desert that was something like glutonous rice - it was very sweet and the ball is actually collapsed as it is full of air. It was awesome.
The weather was quite warm - mid 80s to low 90s. Nice actually.
Our hotel was full of European tourists. Most of the tourist sites in the area are beaches and war related historical sites - museum, underground tunnels and so on. I did not get to tour any tourists sites as my time was strictly work related. Perhaps I'll go back with the family for this. I know that I'll be back for work related reasons as there is tremendous opportunities.
The picture below is of "Flat Emily" along the Saigon river near our hotel. Emily is the daughter to one of our friends and neighbors from Buffalo. Her elementary class is doing a project based on the book Flat Stanley where Stanley gets to travel the world as a flat paper rendition of himself. So Emily sent her "Flat Emily" to travel the world with us. We will send things back to her elementary school from Shanghai and from my travels to Vietnam and so on. Emily welcome to Vietnam. It is a nice place.
Until next time ponder this: The whole time I was there I had the Charley Daniel's song "Still in Saigon" ringing in my mind.
