The last half day in Hoi An was filled with lots of food (clearly a theme on this trip), massages and trying to stuff all of my belongings into my bag. They fit on the way over here, what happened?!
We flew to Saigon that afternoon. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding province of Gia Định and was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City, but is still commonly referred to as Saigon. The difference between Hoi An and Saigon is night and day. One is a quiet small beach and town and the other is a bustling city with non-stop traffic, crowds and loud noises. Saigon has a population of 8 million people and 3.2 million motorcycles, which gives you an idea of what the major mode of transportation is in the city. Successfully crossing the street is a serious feat. Given my clumsiness when it comes to this kind of stuff, I let our tour guide lead me across the street and looked straight ahead while he held my hand. Yes, I am that bad.
Our hotel was in a very ritzy part of town with a lot of designer stores and upscale restaurants. When we arrived we only had a couple of hours before dinner so a few of us took a walk around the area to just look around. I immediately fell in love with Saigon. I don’t know what it is about big cities, but I just love them. Saigon is modern, yet has retained much of its historical look. The sidewalks are filled with food vendors with little metal carts. Surrounding each of the carts are usually men sitting on little plastic chairs drinking coffee and/or eating. Apparently, Vietnamese women are the ones that run the country and work and take care of the family. I’m not quite sure what the men do all day, but drinking coffee on the street looks like it could be a distinct possibility. One of my favorite features of Saigon are these big grassy squares (public parks) that are sprinkled throughout the city. The ones that I saw were mostly filled with couples sitting on benches and people watching. Our guide told us that at 5:30 every morning, the parks are filled with hundreds of people doing Tai Chi. What a sight to see!
Day 2 Saigon, Vietnam
On our second day in Saigon, we took a tour of the Củ Chi Tunnels, which are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. Many American soldiers were killed there. The entire area and the tunnels have been preserved by the government of Vietnam, and turned into a war memorial park.
I don’t think we realized what exactly we were going to see there but most of us were in a state of shock by the time we left. The Vietnamese are very proud of the Củ Chi guerilla fighters for holding out and defending the country. Therefore they have done an amazing job preserving the tunnels and showing visitors how the tunnels were built and maintained throughout the war. Walking through the area and the maze of tunnels, you can really visualize how people lived there during the war. Most of the guerilla fighters were 18-22 men and women. Even though there was a war, they continued to live their lives and many people got married and had babies in the tunnels. I couldn’t help noticing the similarities between this place and the Jewish ghettos in Europe during WWII.
However, as Americans visiting this place, it was extremely disturbing to walk on grounds where hundreds of American soldiers died, especially given that most of them were drafted into a war they didn’t want to fight. There are a few people in the group who have family or close family friends that fought in the war and some that were killed. For them it was even more emotionally disturbing to see the glorification of killing American soldiers. There is one part of the exhibition that shows the booby traps that were spread throughout the area. Behind the physical traps there is a mural that depicts American soldiers falling through the traps and exactly what each trap does to the body. It was disgusting. Even for those of us who are peaceniks and believe the Vietnam War was wrong, it’s hard to take all of this in. The most upsetting part of the tour was actually at the end when we were brought to a shooting range on site, situated next to the concession and souvenir shop. People pay to shoot guns at God knows what fake targets (I didn’t even want to look). The gunshots were loud and alarming, especially after going through the tunnels. It was a surreal experience that I never want to repeat. A friend of mine commented that maybe 25 years from now our kids will be visiting a similar site in Afghanistan on a school trip, paying to see where American soldiers were killed. I’m sure our parents’ generation never thought we would be seeing this in Vietnam.
After this sobering experience, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and then headed to the Ben Thanh Market in the middle of the city. It’s an indoor market that is filled with vendors selling all sorts of food and little trinkets. We made it back to the hotel in time for a little rest and then it was off to another restaurant for more food. I have definitely eaten my weight on this trip. It’s insane. I paid so much for this trip, I might as well eat as much as a I can, right?! The manager of the restaurant we ate at hooked us up with a private room at this Karoake place near the restaurants. We went right after dinner and sang our hearts out to some cheesy music. Later in the evening, a bunch of us went to a bar/club called Apocalypse Now near our hotel to celebrate Faheem's birthday. There were many ex pats and backpackers there mixed in with some locals. They had great dance music so I was in heaven.
Day 3 Saigon, Vietnam
Our third day in Saigon was a company visit day. We first went to visit the Nike offices and factory that opened in 1995. It’s the largest foreign indirect employer in Vietnam, employing around 200,000 people. The factory produces 29% of Vietnamese footwear exports and 2% of all Vietnamese exports. It’s the #1 supplier country of Nike footwear worldwide, churning out 2 million pairs each year. This factory also happens to be the one that received a lot of negative feedback a few years ago regarding labor practices. As a result of that incident, the management of the factory completely turned around HR policies for the better and has become a model for other factories in Vietnam and Asia. Along with abiding by the labor standards of the country, they offer dozens of benefits to employees and have become one of the more progressive employers in this regard in Vietnam. They have programs for unskilled workers to finish high school and also hold other types of training for them; provide micro-loans to employees; hold company social, outdoor, and other recreational programs; provide health and social insurance; make available free medical services onsite; provide free meals and clean water to employees; and maintain a library and playground. There is also an elaborate grievance system for employees to air their problems and communicate with management. More than 50% of the employees at Nike have been there for more than 12 years.
Along with the HR policies, Nike Vietnam has an immense CSR program. From 1995 they have contributed over $1.3 million to the community for low-income housing, building kindergartens, food, and other charities. We had a few of the Vietnamese workers in the meeting with us and many of them said that today it is a source of pride for the workers to say they work at Nike.
The first thing I noticed about the factory itself is that it is indeed labor driven. It looks like what you would think a sweatshop looks like. Very few aspects of the assembly line are automated since it’s is just so much cheaper to employ labor than it is to invest in capital in Vietnam. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the shoes up close since they were working on products that are not in the market yet. We were also not allowed to talk to the workers because it would disturb them. Many are paid per piece so the more they can turn out, the more money they make.
After Nike, we met with Ho Chi Minh Securities, which is one of the top 3 investment banks in Vietnam. While historically they have worked with investors from other Asian countries or Western countries looking to invest in this region, they are now developing products for the rising middle class in Vietnam.
For the rest of the day, I sat in a coffee shop where no one understood English and did some people watching from the window. Perfect. That night we once again headed to the airport for our flight to Bangkok, Thailand.
Other interesting information about Vietnam:
- The government is trying to control the population so if a family has 1 or 2 children, the mother will get 5 months paid maternity leave and additional financial help from the government. However, the government will not provide any support if a family starts having more than 2 kids. In the cities, people are more educated therefore this leads them to have only 1 or 2 kids but in the rural areas there is still a belief that the more kids you have, the more hands there are and therefore the more money you can make or receive from the government.
- Vietnamese people tend to live with their families, even after they are married. It is very expensive to rent or own your own apartment and there exists a very dominant communist mentality that the entire family should share all the members’ income. Our guide told us that pensions are now very low so his generation that has older parents has the responsibility to care for them. His mother lives with him and he must support her.
- Many Vietnamese outside of the cities are farmers, mostly planting rice crops. Vietnam exports 4 million tons of rice each year, mostly to the Middle East. Farmers receive plots of land from the government and they must share 50% of the their profits with the government. Unfortunately, this does not leave them with much money so they must develop other sources of income. On our way to one of our destinations, we drove through farms and passed rice fields, rubber tree fields, tapioca, and Orchid flowers.
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