Good Morning, Vietnam!
The red bean custard with coconut shavings dessert should have been my first clue that I was entering another culture. As the Cathay Pacific 747 winged its way on a 15 ½ -hour trip to Hong Kong as the first leg of my trip to Vietnam, I contemplated the dessert on the airline tray table before me. Am I really up to this? Who was the first person to consider making a red bean custard? Who would have thought of it as a dessert?
I am on this airplane because a long-standing client has asked me to train a group of 25 Vietnamese sales training managers in a weeklong train-the-trainer program. Having done past programs for this client in Singapore and Bali I was anxious to help, if I could. However, despite my extensive travels, I know little about Vietnam, its people or culture. What little I do know is the result of comments from friends who were there during the Vietnam War. Their memories are hardly flattering.
After a stop and sleepover in Hong Kong (very refreshing) I caught an early morning flight to Saigon, Vietnam, now officially called Ho Chi Minh City (usually abbreviated
HCMC). As my plane taxied to the terminal at Tan San Hut airport (that’s right, the former U.S. air base is also the main airport) I see many helicopters in protective huts that were probably installations built by the U.S. military. It’s difficult to tell if the helicopters are abandoned U.S. aircraft or newer models from another country.
I deplaned, collected my bags and passed through immigration without incident. (Vietnam requires a visa to enter the country. That process requires an invitation letter be filed by the client and an approval by the government in Hanoi. Then, the Vietnamese embassy in the U.S. stamps your passport. Don’t leave home with out it. You won’t get in.) However, before leaving the airport everybody’s bags were X-rayed. I’ve never before had my bags X-rayed on leaving an airport. I guess they were looking for some of the items we were warned not to attempt to bring into the country:
Military
equipment
Narcotics or drugs
Pornographic and subversive materials
Firecrackers
Children’s toys having negative effects on personality development, social order and security (I am not sure what this means but it’s exactly as
listed on the immigration form)
As we exited the airport we were greeted by a representative from our hotel. The client, at our request, ordered a hotel car to meet our plane. The 30-minute trip to the hotel was interesting. Although there were signs of poverty and third world conditions, I have been in countries where the people appear to be a lot worse off. Jakarta, Indonesia and Manila, the Philippines immediately come to mind. On the other hand, there were signs of progress. As we passed over the Saigon River I could see areas near the river where new apartment buildings were being erected. The driver said that squatters had been removed from the area where they had set up shacks and were polluting the river to make way for the apartments. No mention was made about what happened to the squatters.
Our hotel, the French-owned 5-star Soiftel Plaza, is beautiful. The two-story marble lobby is punctuated by a sweeping staircase leading up to the hotel’s main dining room and an Asian specialty restaurant.
Our schedule allowed for a rest day (Sunday) before beginning the training.
I took the opportunity to attend church at Notre Dame Cathedral and then to tour the city.
Saigon is much less crowded and cleaner than Jakarta, Indonesia but not as nice as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
My husband walked all over the city for three to four hours each day and never felt ill at ease.
People are friendly and love to practice their English.
They all know that there is a large Vietnamese population in “Little Saigon”, (Garden Grove) California.
They love to talk about the war. They have encouraged my husband to visit the Cu Chi tunnels where the Viet Cong hid underground to fight the Americans.
Many shops have Zippo lighters with U.S. designs and unit logos – too creepy.
Eating:
We've eaten well.
The hotel (4 stars) has a daily buffet that rivals anything I've seen in the
States.
Actually it is three buffets -- an appetizer buffet, entree buffet and dessert buffet.
The buffets change for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All three cost a total of $10.
I am not always certain what we are eating but the food is good. Not too many dogs or cats in this city of 5 million – only have seen three dogs and no cats.
A coincidence, I don't think so.
Don't read the next part if you have a weak stomach. Our guests suggested a restaurant where you are served a live Cobra.
The Cobra is teased and spits at you -- this is entertainment? -- until they chop off its head.
Then they cook the Cobra for dinner, after mixing some of its blood with whiskey to serve to the honored guest.
(Believe it or not, I've toned down the description.)
Many stores carry Cobra wine. A Cobra is actually in the bottle with the wine.
Is this the next “Napa Valley”?
I am gradually coming to the conclusion that my daughter’s vegetarianism has merit.
Training Experiences (Jean):
Each day our group ate lunch in the main dining room to minimize lost class time by going out to a restaurant. The luncheon menu was a substantial, beautifully presented buffet. However, after several days of buffets class participants lobbied strongly to go to a local restaurant to enjoy Vietnamese food. I was concerned about giving up class time and asked the client if they could approach the hotel and ask them to prepare a special Vietnamese set menu to be served to our group at lunch. The hotel was happy to do it, the participants were pleased to get their Vietnamese dishes and I was thankful not to have to give up precious class time. A win-win!
In my planning I provided for a meeting with the client’s representative at the hotel before the first class to go over the logistics, get any last minute instructions and physically inspect the meeting room and facilities. My client contact was
Binh, a very helpful young woman who worked tirelessly to arrange all of the logistics and details both during the day and in the evenings. Having her help was very important to a smoothly run learning experience and both I and the client benefited from her help.
During the workshop I had planned an exercise that I use frequently in the United States. It involves each participant using 10 coins, which each person supplies, to form a triangle. Then I ask then to rearrange the coins to make my learning point.
When I asked the group to take out coins they looked at me like I was from another planet. Vietnamese currency is so inflated that they no longer use coins (50,000 dongs equal US$3.50). Only paper money is used. Oops! Most participants used candy provided by the hotel in place of coins to complete the activity.
Traffic:
Some 95% of vehicle traffic is by motor scooter/bike, pedal bikes or cyclos (pedal bikes with a seat for an additional passenger). The other 5% is made up of cars and trucks. However, trucks are banned from the central city during rush hours and other peak traffic times.
In all of Saigon there are probably no more than 20 intersections controlled by traffic lights. The rest have no control (except fear), not even stop signs. What few traffic lights and signs exist are regularly ignored.
When traffic is busy it is not unusual to see a motorbike coming at you on the sidewalk or to see bikes going down one-way streets, the wrong way!
Drivers do not speed excessively and they allow space between vehicles. They are generally courteous and allow others to “cut in”. They love to honk their horns, but generally not in anger.
Crossing a street is a major “leap of faith”. You observe traffic until it lightens up, which usually doesn’t happen for long. Then, you step off the curb and slowly walk to the other side while motorbikes and cars stream around you, front and back. We were warned repeatedly – do not run! Apparently if you start to run it confuses the drivers and, because they can’t predict your actions, they may hit you. This is method is fine in theory but it requires drivers and pedestrians to pay careful attention. I observed drivers dialing their cell phones as they drove and more than once I saw families of four riding on one tiny motor scooter. Personally, I think they get more points if they hit a running American (It’s a joke! Lighten up.)
Insurance for an automobile is paid one time for the life of the owner. Typically the premium cost is US$700.
Cu Chi Tunnels:
The Cu Chi tunnels are a network of narrow underground tunnels used by the Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communist troops and militia) during the Vietnam War. The tunnels are located in the Cu Chi region about an hour drive from Saigon, in what was, at the time of the war, a heavily contested region. By day U.S. and South Vietnamese Army troops controlled this region. When night fell villagers left their villages and joined the Viet Cong in the tunnels to fight the Americans.
When the Americans attempted to control the area they would meet ferocious resistance from well-hidden bunkers and many spiked traps that would ensnare the unsuspecting infantryman. When U.S. troops were about to overrun the Viet Cong positions the Viet Cong would disappear into an intricate labyrinth of tunnels and reappear at a completely different place.
Out of frustration the U.S. and Vietnamese powers mandated that all peasants in the region be relocated to “strategic hamlets”. The peasants were forcibly relocated from their homes to new “hamlets” where their presence at night could be monitored. Because partisan peasants were still able to sneak out at night, the strategy didn’t work.
This 200 mile, three-story complex of tunnels contained feeding and sleeping areas, primitive hospitals, meeting rooms, kitchens and schools. The tunnels are so narrow and low that the average American could not get into a tunnel. During the war, nothing – gas, dogs, flooding, smoke – was successful at disabling the tunnels.
If you visit the tunnel complex you can:
Travel through a short (30 or 100 yards) stretch of specially widened tunnel
Sit on a destroyed U.S. tank
Eat a typical Viet Cong meal (plant roots and tea)
View the traps designed to ensnare our soldiers
Fire various U.S. (M1, M16, Thompson submachine gun) and Russian (AK 47)
pistols
and rifles at US$1 per bullet
Have your picture taken with a Vietnamese Communist soldier
The Cu Chi tunnel experience was less disturbing than I expected. I guess time does “heal all wounds”, at least, most.
The Vietnam War:
Vietnamese today are not reluctant to speak about the Vietnam War or their participation in it. The Vietnamese have a long history of fighting outside nations’ attempts at invasion. They view the Vietnam War as just one among many wars, most of which they’ve won.
Those I spoke with considered it a revolutionary war against an oppressive South Vietnamese president, turned dictator. President Diem, according to those I spoke with, headed a corrupt administration that imposed forced conscription, high taxes and a brutal police state. The people despised the government and, through their ignorance of conditions in the north, believed the propaganda that life would be better under a Communist regime. They believe that the United States got pulled into the wrong side of a war that we shouldn’t have been involved with at all. We lost 50,000 brave young men and the Vietnamese lost 3,000,000 soldiers and civilians.
Those I spoke with want to put the War behind them and begin normal relations with the United States. They were very excited that President Bill Clinton was coming to Saigon but they couldn’t understand why he was traveling with an group of 2,000 people (if true, I can’t understand it either). (I’ve since learned the trip cost $65,000,000 and used 48 aircraft.)
Income and Income Taxes:
The currency is the “dong”. The numbers quoted below are in U.S. dollars and the comments are those of my Vietnamese guide.
The office worker for a Vietnamese company will make US$50-$70/month. An office worker for an international company will earn twice as much, but for that English language skills will be expected.
The highest paid worker in a local company will earn US$200-400/month. The same worker at an international company will earn US$500-700/month.
Income tax is 20% on monthly income above US$200/month. Tax on 1 acre of property is about US$7/year. Hotel, restaurants and tourism-related business pay a 35% sales tax.
A teacher earns between US$40-50/month.
Parents must pay part of the tuition for their children:
Elementary School: US$10/year
High School: US$20/year
College:
1. In Vietnam: US $ 300
2. In Australia US$10,000
3. In U.S. US$20,000
My guide told me that the American government was being very “smart” (first time I’ve ever heard that) in undermining the Communist regime by allowing the sons and daughters of Hanoi bureaucrats to receive student visas to come to the United States for their college education. By his reasoning when the sons and daughters return to Vietnam they will be converted to the U.S. way of doing things (capitalism, etc.) and the older generation will just wither away in favor of this new generation of bureaucrats. We’ll see.
