Day Nine: Ban Mi and VSIP

Tuesday began earlier than usual, as we were making another trip out of the city. About an hour north of the center of the city is Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) I. VSIP is an industrial park company that utilizes a partnership between the governments of Vietnam and Singapore to create industrial parks across Vietnam. We visited the original park, built in 1996, but there are currently three other parks active across Vietnam, and one under construction. Industrial parks, and VSIP in particular, are very important in the Vietnamese economy, and very desirable to growing businesses. VSIP and similar parks provide a sort of "one-stop-shop" for businesses: the parks services eliminate the need for companies to deal with different government agencies, and the civil and electrical infrastructure is much more reliable than the cities. After our briefing with VSIP, we met with David Baker, the chief engineer of photooptics for II-VI Inc. II-VI is a high tech electronics manufacturer founded in PA (by a Pitt alum nonetheless!) with manufacturing plants in Singapore, China, and Vietnam, particularly in VSIP which we were already visiting. David spoke to us about the growth and globalization of II VI and their reasons for globalization. Although the cheap and plentiful labor makes manufacturing in Vietnam desirable, there are a few obstacles to overcome. David told us a story about his first year working in Vietnam, when he employed around 30 Vietnamese from central Vietnam in VSIP (which is southern Vietnam). His employees, who had been working for him for eight months, left work to visit their families in central Vietnam during the Vietnamese holiday of Tet. The issue arose however, when half of his employees that left, stayed with their families living off of their income from the past eight months for another four months, and then returned looking for jobs again. For this reason, David and other employers of laborers in Vietnam have had to come up with incentives for workers to stay with their companies after training.
After our briefing, David took us on a tour of VSIP I and two of the II-VI facilities in the park. During the tour, we not only got to see firsthand some of the industrial processes at II-VI, but we got to hear some interesting stories about the history of VSIP. David explained to us how last year, after China built an oil rig contentiously close to Vietnamese waters, there was public uproar against the Chinese throughout Vietnam. This anger manifested itself in riots, which actually started in VSIP one, and spread across the nation. Vietnamese laborers rioted uncontested for a whole day, as the VSIP contract with the government originally prevented government police and military presence in the parks. The rioters targeted what they thought were Chinese business, burning and looting some buildings. However, the rioters mistook the lettering on some buildings, and ended up looting some Japanese and Taiwanese factories as well. This whole ordeal took place just two days after last years Plus 3 group visited VSIP!

For lunch we ate at a very nice restaurant near VSIP. I tried Jasmine Tea, which was very good, barring my inexperience with pretty much any tea at all. After lunch we headed back to the hotel. After a quick trip to the co-op, I went with a small group to the post office, as some people wanted to send post-cards, and then we went on a search for some Café Sua Da. We stopped at The Coffee Factory, which had some okay Café Sua Da. We had however received a tip about a coffee stand in the park behind the cathedral called Café Bet, which was supposed to have excellent Café Sua Da. Our search for this Café was fruitless however, and Café Bet will live on in our imaginations as a place of mythic wonder, like the Fountain of Youth or Cleveland. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to relax for a little before dinner. For dinner we met with some UEF students, and they showed us to a small shop just a few blocks from the hotel, where we got to try Banh Mi. Banh Mi is a type of Vietnamese street sandwich with pork, vegetables, and a spicy sauce. It was delicious! Hen gap lai!