The Least Predictable Sporting Event Ever

Forget Mayweather vs Paquiao, today was the match-up of the century. Pitt vs UEF, America vs Vietnam, in basketball and soccer. Led by Coach B-Schultz, the American team was heavily favored for basketball with a strong height advantage. Soccer was the sport to fear as it is far more popular in Vietnam than America. The matches were held early, to avoid heat but the crowded gym was still a furnace. The result? Basketball: a Vietnamese victory. Soccer: an American thrashing. That can't be right... How is that possible!?
Here's what happened. Despite being tall Americans, we forgot to consider the fact that we are all terrible at basketball. Aster was the only one who could score. That's right, Aster, one of the smallest girls on the trip, was our MVP. Meanwhile, their team was actually fairly good and much taller than the average Vietnamese student. During soccer, our co-ed teams were fairly evenly matched as both teams took advantage of the other team's inexperienced players. Then, during the girls game, the American team absolutely dominated as most of the girls on the trip were experienced soccer players. Although, yet again, Aster managed to score most of the goals.
Overall, I had a lot of fun playing the students but I wish there was more time for me to play soccer as the co-ed game seemed rather short and the was no men's game.
Post sports was lunch, which unfortunately I think most Pitt students were not happy with. While the food was delicious as always, I was drenched in sweat and all I could think about was a shower. To make things worse, we got lost on our way to the restaurant and were stuck in the sun for about half an hour. Regardless, we ate and made it back to the hotel to swim, shower, and sleep, which felt amazing.
That night was our farewell dinner, which we all got dressed up for. I put on my new, tailored suit and took pictures in the lobby with the whole group. Then we headed out to our dinner which was on a boat. The boat traveled up and down the Saigon river as we ate, giving us a spectacular view of the city. They also had live music which was great and a "flamenco" dance number that was really just two women dancing around in flamenco dresses. While it wasn't really authentic, it was still entertaining.
And that concludes my trip to Vietnam! I'm really sad to go, although I am very exhausted. Vietnam has certainly made an amazing impression on me and I will definitely look for opportunities to return. Hen gap lai!

Make Pho Not War

Today, after our last classes at UEF, we explored a few of memorials of the Vietnam War in HCMC. We walked from the Xa Loi Buddhist Pagoda to the Thich Quang Duc Memorial. Thich Quang Duc was the Buddhist monk who took this same path before he famously doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire in protest of President Ngo Dinh Diem's oppression of Buddhism. At the time, President Diem was part of a catholic elite ruling over a dominantly Buddhist South Vietnam. This "democratic" government that imprisoned and tortured Buddhists for their religion was backed by the U.S. simply because it wasn't communist.

After seeing the memorial to Thich Quang Duc, we traveled to the War Remnants Museum, which focused on the extreme violence used by Americans in supporting South Vietnam's government in the Vietnam War. Captured weaponry, hundreds of graphic images, and excerpts of news articles portrayed the horror of the war quite powerfully. While I knew going into the museum that the Vietnam War was brutally violent, I was still shocked by many of the exhibits. The most jarring was the exhibit on Agent Orange, an herbicide used by Americans to kill crops, trees, and people. I knew that Agent Orange was still causing health problems in many parts of Vietnam today, but I wasn't really familiar with what those problems were. The exhibit consisted of many images of horrific birth defects caused by Agent Orange. While walking through the exhibit, I could not believe that my government had endorsed the use of such barbaric weaponry to not only harm innocent civilians, but to harm their unborn children. Throughout this and other displays of what my country had done, I wanted to blame the bias of the museum. Surely, this is all exaggerated and skewed. While I was able to tell that the museum was biased against America, the parts that were disturbing were images. While it is certainly possible to lie with a picture, it's still hard to deny the horror in a picture of an American soldier standing over two freshly decapitated Vietnamese heads or a picture of a stack of bodies burned by napalm. At the same time, I had to consider the violence committed by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong. I thought back to the Cu Chi tunnels, where the tour guide prodded a patch of grass with a stick to activate a gruesome trap involving bamboo spikes dipped in human excrement. Still, even if the brutality was requited, America's extremely violent acts were not justified by any means.

The most confusing part about visiting the War Remnants Museum was realizing that America came to Vietnam to participate in a war that left 3 million Vietnamese dead through horrific methods and yet today, 40 years after the end of the war, Vietnam is one of the most pro-American countries in the world. While it is important to consider that I am in Saigon and not Hanoi, I am still blown away that strangers come up and take pictures with me simply because I'm American. I would expect at least a hint of caution or resentment when interacting with Americans as opposed to the tremendous hospitality I've received on this trip. 

5 Star Shipping

This morning was the most delicious of the trip so far. We visited the first 5 star hotel in Saigon, New World, for Vietnamese cooking lessons. The lessons involved wrapping spring rolls and was pretty simple, but the lunch afterwards was what really made my morning. All you can eat sushi, fish, beef, sausage, fruit, desserts, and much much more. My favorite was the bread and cheese because for the whole trip we have been eating phenomenal bread, thanks to the French colonization, but never with cheese because true dairy is basically non existent in Vietnamese cuisine. So that baguette with brie couldn't have tasted any better.

After lunch we headed to Saigon Newport Corporation, a massive port shipping company run by the Vietnamese navy. We were given a presentation and a tour of a port near HCMC. The major point I drew from this was that the success of government run companies relies on the patriotism of their workers. Our guide explained that even though she is in a high managerial position, she makes equal or less than workers out on the docks, like crane operators. She explained that she does this because she feels that she is advancing her nations economy and making it stronger. This mentality is ideal for any communist nation as working for the betterment of your country is crucial. From this discussion I was better able to grasp how Vietnam functions under communist rule economically. While many thriving businesses are private and operate on capitalist values, state owned corporations also play a crucial role in the economy and are driven by nationalism.

International Lasers

The Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) was our primary destination for today, the home of II-VI, a company based just outside of Pittsburgh that specializes in optics components, such as lasers. We began with a talk on VSIP, which was my company of focus for the trip. In a country where government managed companies typically perform terribly and weigh the economy down, I was impressed by VSIP's success despite its close operation with the governments of Vietnam and Singapore. From what I gathered this was because it was mostly privately managed, but was heavily supported by the governments. Because of this relationship, VSIP is able to provide special services like private customs offices to attract tenants to the park. The presentation was fairly interesting but also brief. I was very disappointed by the Q&A session because the VSIP representative only allowed for a few questions. This will make writing my post trip paper on VSIP fairly difficult but I still enjoyed the visit.
As mentioned before, one of VSIP's tenants is II-VI, who gave us a much more extensive presentation and a tour of their production facilities in VSIP. The tour was a valuable experience for me because I was able to see first hand the processes of manufacturing complicated devices. Most of the tour consisted of following the production line of TEMs, from raw materials to finished product. I was fascinating by this process because I actually understood some of the steps from what I had learned in my freshman year. It was a nice reassurance to understand how the electrolysis station plates the semi-conductors with gold or nickle or how to adjust an anti-reflective coating to meet your specifications. I am excited to understand more about applied technologies such as these as I advance my education.

Apparently I’m Every Vendor’s First Customer at Ben Thahn Market

Today I had one goal: to bargain my way to as many souvenirs as possible within an hour at Saigon’s famous Ben Thahn Market. We started the day with Vietnamese language lessons on numbers and how to haggle prices, but largely those skills went unused since virtually the entire market speaks English to better appeal to countless streams of Western tourists. That being said, loudly shouting “mac qua!” (too much!) definitely helped the vendor’s reception of my obnoxiously low initial bids. It often forced them to break their script of “handsome man, you my first customer” and “this price make us both lucky.” These phrases were often coupled with aggressive grabbing of arms which definitely came as a shock but was not difficult to avoid once I knew to avoid eye contact and keep walking if I wasn’t interested. I picked up gifts for family and friends as well as a few souvenirs for myself for about 60-70% of the price tag, which I was fairly happy with.

After the market, we traveled to VinaCapital Foundation (VCF) to learn about what they do as an NGO (non-governmental organization) in Vietnam. We spoke to a number of higher ups in VCF as well as their parent company, VinaCapital Group and discussed a number of social issues in Vietnam that VCF works to solve. One of the most interesting topics discussed was wealth disparity. It is easy to see that Vietnam’s economy is rapidly growing, and has been for some time now, but what I learned from this visit is that much of this increased wealth is focused in the upper classes. Poverty is still very prominent in the nation, especially amongst ethnic minorities who are often discriminated against by their Viet neighbors. While legislation has been passed to rectify this, proper enforcement has not been carried out. This seems to be a trend in Vietnam, where the government is making some good decisions to advance their nation, but beaurocracy and corruption are holding the country back.

Jesus was Sweaty

BEACH DAY! We ventured out to a coastal city about 3 hours away from HCMC called Vung Tau. We began the day by climbing a seemingly infinitely long stair way up a mountain to a Cristo Rendendor-esque statue of Jesus overlooking the coastline. The hike, coupled with a long wait in the crowded staircase to reach the lookout on Jesus’ outstretched arms, made me sweat more than I have in my entire life. That being said, the view was worth every drop.

After descending the mountain, we took to the beach at a nearby resort. The water was warm but still refreshing. As I swam out into the pacific I encountered many plastic bags and other trash that I confused for jellyfish, and then I came across actual jellyfish that were massive but luckily easy to avoid. The day overall was very relaxing despite near everybody getting extremely sunburnt, and it was a nice conclusion to a long week. I can’t believe the trip is already almost halfway over and I look forward to making the most of my final days here in Vietnam.

Cu Chi

For the first time on the trip, we ventured out of HCMC to the Cu Chi District, the home of the infamous tunnel system used by the Viet Cong to ambush and evade American forces. About two hours outside HCMC, the Cu Chi tunnels began with bomb shelters being connected by tunnels to allow for movement from village to village. With the French occupation, these tunnels were expanded into a complex web. During the Vietnam War, they were further expanded to the point where the tunnel systems essentially acted as underground cities, complete with living spaces, kitchens, medical centers, entertainment, and extensive tunnels for transportation and access. These tunnels, despite persistent bombing from American B52s, allowed Viet Cong soldiers to live underground for months, attacking American forces through ambushes and traps. 

The tunnels we visited, which were widened for tourists, forced me to crawl on hands and knees for the majority of the time. The rooms varied in size, but even the largest felt dark, hot, and confined. I could hardly bear a few minutes of traversing 30 meters in the tunnels, I can't even fathom spending months traversing the 250 kilometers of the entire system with limited rations. As much as I try to avoid praising the killing of Americans, I couldn't help but respect the complexity of the tunnels and the dedication of the Viet Cong to their cause. Because of these attributes, the tunnels were extremely effective. For example, while walking through the forest we encountered a number of termite mounds. Our tour guide pointed to one and explained how it was actually camouflage for an air intake while another, larger mound was actually a bunker with discreet slits at its base to allow for the Viet Cong to fire without being seen. Our guide also demonstrated that right below where we were standing, a small trap door was hidden under a thin layer of leaves. After he squeezed himself through the opening, he resealed the entrance and once again it was impossible to locate. A few moments later he appeared behind us from another trapdoor. While walking through this section of the forest, I would not have been able to identify any of the tunnel features without them being explicitly pointed out. Despite the tunnels not adhering to a master plan, I was impressed by the design and craftsmanship of the system.

After visiting the tunnels and eating lunch at a spectacular restaurant floating on the river, we ventured to a large war memorial to the soldiers who died in Cu Chi. This memorial consisted of a large temple complete with numerous sculptures and works of art. The most interesting of these were mosaics that covered the perimeter walls of the temple that were dedicated to the history of Vietnam. This history largely consisted of foreign occupation, most notably the Chinese and the French. These mosaics showed the horrors of these occupations (quite graphically) and glorified those who fought against their foreign oppressors. The last wall was dedicated to the Vietnam War, where the North Vietnamese successfully unified their country in independence from foreign powers. This depiction of the Vietnam War was interesting in that it showed the other side of the story. To many Vietnamese during the war, Americans were invading their country using horrendous acts of violence. The achievement of Vietnamese independence is one that can be celebrated by the entire nation, no matter which side they sided on during the war.

Haven’t you ever heard of the American Dream?

Today I strangely learned a lot about Vietnam by discussing American history, culture, and daily life. After our usual classes in the morning we went to the U.S. Consulate Building, where we got a tour and met with a few of the officers to learn about what exactly a consulate does. They explained that while a lot of their work is processing visas for immigration and tourism, they also have the important goal of strengthening diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries (which we explored in detail when we spoke to Patrick Wall two days ago). We also heard about their program to help Vietnamese students to come to the United States to study, called Education USA. This became the most interesting function of the consulate as we proceeded to visit Education USA to meet with Vietnamese students who participate in their program. The intention was to have one on one conversation, but this approach was quickly abandoned as more and more Vietnamese students arrived, ready with questions. We broke into groups, with about 3-4 Americans talking to 30-40 Vietnamese. This tactic was similarly abandoned when we realized how many questions these students were eager to ask, and groups of 1 American talking with about 10 Vietnamese was the final result. The Vietnamese students’ English was flawless, which I was very thankful for. Most of the questions I answered revolved around choosing a major, finding a job, dealing with stress, student loans, and housing in college. However, I did encounter some particularly interesting questions that opened my eyes to some realities in both America and Vietnam. When I was asked about how Americans could afford taking gap years to volunteer or travel I found myself stumbling over the fact that I was in a very fortunate position. Here I was, in Vietnam, not knowing any of their language and only doing minimal research on their culture and customs because I could afford to do so. Meanwhile, I was talking to students who have studied English and American culture tirelessly, in hopes that they could earn a chance to visit my country. I was reminded of our visit to Hutech (a local university) on one of our first days, where the vice president spoke to us on the value of education. He explained how education is so valuable that farmers will sell all of their land simply to send their children to study in America. After learning the value of this land in our talks on the Mekong Delta and speaking with these students, I realized how fortunate I was to be in my position. To be able to pursue a major where I can be confident in my career, to be able to travel and explore countries like Vietnam using that major, and to be able to have my opinion be respected largely due to simply being born into a middle class American household. One student asked me “are you allowed to disagree with your professor?” and I realized that for many students in Vietnam, they do not have the luxury of expressing their own voice in the classroom. I learned that simply being heard is a rare gift for many students as one Vietnamese student excitedly bragged to the rest of the group that his favorite professor (who was educated in America) allowed him to disagree without penalty. They explained that even in classes like philosophy, the professor’s way is the only way. I wonder if this is indicative of a greater cultural norm instilled by the strict communist government and strong family values.

After attempting to address as many major questions as possible I retreated to the hotel for much needed water and rest from the very long day and week. Once there, many of the students from Pitt discussed the most interesting questions they gave or had to answer. One of my friends asked “How do you perceive the typical American?” and received the unexpected answer of “freedom, beautiful, and smart.” Most of us agreed that this was the opposite of what we expected to hear as we see stereotypical Americans as ignorant and lazy. Another friend of mine, confused as many of us were as to how Vietnam, a nation which was the target of extreme American violence during the war, could have such love for the United States. The response he received was “haven’t you ever heard of the American Dream?” I don’t even know how to respond to that.

Religion, Culture, and Art

In lieu of Vietnamese language class today, we visited a Taoist pagoda hidden amongst Saigon's city sprawl. The pagoda, dating back to the 11th century had a number of interesting artifacts including a pond packed with turtles, many wood carvings of warriors, and an old statue who's halo was lit with cheap colorful LEDs. This was an interesting combination of old and new Vietnam and the visit to the pagoda was a nice set up for our lesson back at UEF.

At UEF, we had a lesson on the history of Vietnamese culture. The most interesting portion of the lesson was the discussion of an indigenous tribe in the highlands of central Vietnam. Their culture held females in higher regard than males and valued nature over worldly possessions, such as luxurious homes.

By far the highlight of the day was our visit to Glass Egg, a digital media company that specializes in modeling cars for video games such as Forza Motorsport and Need for Speed. We were given a tour of their facility and got to watch their 200 artists digitally map out supercars down to the nuts and bolts of the engine. Their work is extremely impressive as games like Forza are regularly praised for the beauty of their cars. I remember playing Forza Motorsport 3 for hours on end even though I don't usually enjoy the gameplay of racing games. I played solely to look at the cars. We also met with Phil Tran (CEO), Steve Reid (CFO), and Guillaume Monier (COO) and were able to ask questions after viewing their portfolio. We learned about how Vietnam is a prime place for entrepreneurship since labor costs are so low and heard Phil and Steve's story in building Glass Egg. Phil's story was particularly fascinating because him and his family were actually refugees from the North Vietnamese at the end of the Vietnam War. His father was a soldier in the South Vietnamese military who wrote to a friend in the U.S. Military when he recognized that if he didn't find a way to escape the country his family would be divided and imprisoned while he would likely be executed. This letter was published in the San Diego Times and the publicity pressured the U.S. embassy to evacuate him and his family immediately. Phil was 12 at this time and returned to Vietnam when he was 31. He met Steve, who grew up in Virginia and was visiting the country, and they founded Glass Egg.

Be Strong, Mekong

For our lecture today, the president of a local university, who serves as an advisor for multiple international organizations, spoke to us about the history, culture, and economy of the Mekong Delta. He instructed us about how the region adopted and modified the cultures of neighboring nations and developed its own unique customs. However, the most fascinating part of the lecture was the discussion of the Mekong Delta’s politics and economics. The delta is dominated by poor farmers who produce whatever crop is in highest demand (most often rice). Great economic disparity exists in the region because the average farmer only owns about an acre of land, making it extremely difficult for them to do anything but work for survival. Additionally, the delta has very little infrastructure and the worst education level in the country. With the expansion of industrial sectors into the delta, through the displacement of farmers, these uneducated workers are often forced into working for extremely low wages in factories. Additionally, the land that remains is in peril.Since the delta is the end of a long river that spans multiple countries, each nation it occupies claims ownership of the river and influence it in different ways. For example, 22% of the river lies in China, who built multiple dams that have significant impacts on the Mekong Delta. With the addition of dams upriver, the amount of water flowing into the delta decreases, making the dry season even drier and reducing the amount of floods. The later might seem to be a plus, but for years farmers have relied on regular flooding in the rainy season to wash away acidity and revitalize the soil. To make matters worse, with rising sea levels due to global warming, the Mekong Delta could be mostly submerged within the next 50 years. This presentation opened my eyes to how Vietnam’s expanding infrastructure affects rural areas like the Mekong Delta. It also provided a new perspective on yesterday’s visit to Phu My Hung, where marshlands were transformed into an industrially centered city running on fossil fuels that contribute to the very global warming that could submerge the surrounding area within my lifetime.

Our company visit was to the United States Commercial Service, a sector of the consulate in HCMC. We met with Patrick Wall, who explained that his role was to aid American companies in tapping in to Vietnam’s economy. We discussed this process and the many complications that often emerge in dealing with the beaurocracy and corruption of the Vietnamese government. His insight on American economic and political interaction with Vietnam since the reestablishment of diplomatic relations was helpful in understanding the relationship between the two nations.

Cityception

Today we had our first company visit to Phu My Hung. From previous research, I expected to tour a modern development consisting of 10 or so buildings. What I found was an entire city which was built from scratch by the Phu My Hung Corporation over the past 20 years. After exploring the often chaotic nature of Ho Chi Minh City's blocks which largely consisted of unique houses connected by streets packed with scooters and motorcycles, exploring Phu My Hung's carefully planned and organized development was especially impressive. During our morning lesson, we learned about the HCMC's rapid growth as an economic keystone of Vietnam and the government's plans to expand the city to over double its current size with developments like Phu My Hung. At Phu My Hung's headquarters we received an impressive presentation on the history of the corporation and its transformation of previously lightly used marshlands into the spectacularly modern district of South Saigon. The most interesting aspect of the presentation was Phu My Hung's initiative in using international resources to plan and construct an almost entirely self-sufficient city within the borders of HCMC. In fact, Phu My Hung built a power plant that not only provides sufficient energy to fuel South Saigon, but also powers 40% of HCMC in entirety. That statistic is extremely impressive for 1 power plant but considering its massive smoke stack it probably consumes coal or natural gas. This contradicts Phu My Hung’s claim that they work in harmony with the environment but it also makes sense in that Vietnam is a nation that is struggling to compete with other rapidly growing nations in the region who also resort to cheap but harmful means of power.

I realized during the Phu My Hung visit that I am more confused than I initially anticipated with the Vietnamese government. As I understand it, one of the pillars of communism is a command economy where the borquoise is eliminated and resources are evenly distributed throughout the people. As we learned this morning in the presentation on urban planning, since the Doi Moi (where Vietnam’s command economy began to transition to a market economy), disparity between the rich and the poor has grown significantly. This policy makes me question Vietnam’s communist values. I find the most interesting part of communist morality is in its focus on maintaining equity. Phu My Hung exemplifies a private corporation which developed a self-sufficient city designed to attract the wealthy. Besides Phu My Hung having to lease the land from the Vietnamese government due to shared land ownership, this development seems farther from government involvement than most developments in Western countries. Phu My Hung plans itself, selects which businesses are able to move into their city, and even has its own police force with security stations regularly dispersed within the development. In many ways, Phu My Hung Corporation appears to be a government of its own. While I was extremely impressed by Phu My Hung’s modernized accomplishments, I was left skeptical about their clear marketing towards the wealthy. With signs like “we sell apartments to foreigners” and millions of dollars of foreign investment already given to Phu My Hung, the development will naturally aid Vietnam’s standing in the global market. However, I found myself questioning how HCMC’s economy will be affected if the majority of the city’s wealthy investors move to the exclusive South Saigon and invest less in the rest of the city. Regardless, Phu My Hung’s progress is a marvel in terms of business and engineering, and I very much enjoyed the visit.

Exhaustion is creeping in so I’ll keep the rest of the day fairly brief. After Phu My Hung, the Vietnamese students took us out to dinner at a pho (noodle soup) restaurant. I have been eating pho since I was very young in America, but never have I tasted anything as delicious as the real thing. I finished my bowl of pho within five minutes, broth and all, because I couldn’t stop eating. After eating pho, we visited a park in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, where it is common for teenagers of HCMC to eat street food on newspapers laid out on the side walk. This makeshift picnic was wonderful and reminded me of the activity of HCMC, with hundreds of motor bikes revolving around our park. I realized that on a Tuesday night, very few American cities would be as alive as HCMC. This idea was strengthened by our trip down the newly completed walkway in the heart of HCMC. On this walkway, crowds of people on the massive sidewalk were flanked by busy streets which lined modern shops, restaurants, and sky scrapers. This tour of downtown HCMC dampened my doubts about Phu My Hung as it appeared that many districts of HCMC are rapidly expanding. However, we passed a high end restaurant in central HCMC named “Le Borquoise” and my confusion on modern communism reemerged. I hope to clarify this subject through the rest of my experiences here in Vietnam.

TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) Phu My Hung Corporation is impressive to say the least, I don’t really know what modern communism is, pho is good.

A Warm (and humid) Welcome

I beat jetlag! Despite feeling sleepy in a presentation or two, a morning workout and swim coupled with an incredible breakfast that included glorious Vietnamese coffee and surprisingly tasty corn broth locked me into the Vietnamese schedule. 

Today we visited our partner university, the University of Economics and Finance, and I couldn't have asked for a more hospitable welcome. As soon as we got off the bus we were greeted by enthusiastic Vietnamese students who placed hand woven leis made out of real flowers around our necks. We then sat through a welcome party including numerous dance numbers and speeches where  during the breaks we were able to get to know our new Vietnamese companions. Most of them spoke English very well (which was relieving considering I could hardly even pronounce their names) and all were friendly and outgoing. My first conversation with a student involved him excitedly telling me about how he watched a cartoon movie about a vampire living in the same place that I'm from. I didn't have the heart to pop his bubble by explaining that "Pennsylvania" and "Transylvania" are not the same place.

After the welcome ceremony, we had our first lesson in Vietnamese where I found out I can't differentiate between the Vietnamese word for "ghost" and "mother." I hope I never have to hold a conversation involving both. The different pronunciations were not only difficult to hear, but they were even harder to speak. This language is definitely going to be a challenge.

Lunch was an assortment of Vietnamese foods at a nearby university's cafeteria. The food was about a million times better than anything Market Central has ever served. Lunch was followed by a trip to Hutech, another private university nearby that has both business and engineering. We were divided by major and the engineering group spoke with the Vice-President of the university, who was an electrical-engineer. The topic was intended to highlight the differences between American and Vietnamese universities, but most of the talk was redirected to the VP's philosophical musings. Regardless, he was still very well spoken and his words of wisdom felt worthwhile.

Dinner was at a restaurant that accumulated numerous street vendors and housed them in a gorgeous semi-outdoor building. Once again we received an insanely delicious meal composed of a variety of shared dishes.

Remember when I said I beat jetlag? I lied. It's hitting me now. Goodnight.

RIP Weekend

I woke up Friday morning at 5 o'clock in Pittsburgh, now 34 hours later I am finally in Ho Chi Minh City at 2 o'clock Monday morning. My weekend consisted of two fairly simple, short, laid back flights preceding and following one behemoth 16 hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong. Preparing for that flight I convinced myself that if I fell asleep early, I could cruise until the end. However, once I took my seat in the middle of a row of 9, I realized that I would not only have teach myself how to maneuver plastic utensils with my elbows touching in order to eat but that I had little to no chance of sleeping comfortably with my legs forced into the shape of the reclined seat in front of me. This resulted in me watching movies until I was tired enough to sleep through anything. This method actually worked very well and I ended up getting at least 5 hours of sleep through periodic slips of consciousness (I highly recommend Citizen Kane and Birdman).

First Impressions of Ho Chi Minh City:
1. Communism is real! With our arrival being just a few days after the 40th anniversary of the liberation (or fall) of Saigon, the city was covered in giant billboards, posters, and banners commending the victory of the North with images of soldiers, workers, and tanks. It was very interesting to see first hand the kind of propaganda I had previously only heard about in history class
2. Scooters, Motorbikes, and Mopeds. Everywhere.
3. The hotel is surprisingly nice and I look forward to killing jetlag tomorrow with a morning workout and swim (we'll see if that actually happens when the morning comes)