Our day began with a trip to UEF for a language class.
During this class we learned how to barter in Vietnamese. This was especially
useful, because after this class we went to the Ben Thahn Market. The market
was full of different vendors for clothes, food, souvenirs, etc. With the help
of our UEF friends, we were able to barter with the vendors to bring down the
prices, sometimes more than half the original cost. The vendors were very,
aggressive (?) salesmen; they weren't afraid to grab you by the arm as you
walked by their shop and try to sell you something of theirs. Negotiating
prices on a t-shirt also becomes fairly easy when there are five shops all
selling the same shirts immediately next to each other. All you have to do is
ask your friend if they want to try the next shop and the vendor will drop the
price down. I bought a lot at the markets, much of which I will withhold in tis
blog, because my family, whom I bought much of it for, reads these posts. I
will say that I got some nice chopsticks and some Vietnamese t-shirts. We were
supposed to get lunch at the market, but I was too busy shopping and exploring
that I forgot to eat.
After our market trip we headed back to the hotel to get ready
for our afternoon business visit. Our visit today was a quick bus ride downtown
by the Rex Hotel where we visited Vina Capital. Specifically we learned about
Vina Capital Foundation in Vietnam, a group that uses donations from the Vina
Capital Company to make charitable donations throughout Vietnam. One of their
main focuses is Vietnamese healthcare. Vina Capital Foundation funds many
medical trips with trained doctors into more impoverished areas of Vietnam to
provide medical services, and funds training sessions between Vietnamese
doctors and medical professors across the world. Although still a business
visit, it was interesting seeing the more philanthropic side of the development
in Vietnam. Miss Lan was particularly excited by this. She explained to those
at Vina Capital who gave our briefing that UEF uses a case study of Vina
Capital in Vietnam for teaching purposes, however neither she nor the other
professors truly understood all of what Vina Capital did in country. She said
she thought the social responsibility of the corporation was important, and
that her students should have a better understanding of Vina Capital and
companies like it so they can understand how to give back to their community
when working in business related fields.
After our business visit, we headed back to the hotel, where
my VSIP business visit group me to go over the types of questions we would like
to ask the company for tomorrow. For dinner, we went to a small restaurant with
the Vietnamese students. We ordered Vietnamese pancakes to share. The pancakes
are more like giant omelets, with shrimp and mushrooms that you cut up and roll
in lettuce and basil and dip in fish sauce. After dinner we all went to a
karaoke bar (my first experience with that), which was actually pretty fun.
Another great day in HCMC! Xin Chao!
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