Today I woke up to find out from Mike that we would not be going to UEF today but that we would being going on two site visits instead. So after getting breakfast and cleaned up I got on the bus with the rest of the group and some UEF students and headed to our first visit which was the Viet Capital Securities Company.
When we arrived and I first saw this place it reminded me of a miniature NYSE. There were people sitting in chairs like they were watching a movie but on the screen was just a huge spreadsheet with changing numbers in black, red, and yellow. Needless to say this site visit was more for the business majors than for us engineers. When they took us behind the desk to talk about what was going on I kind of made my way to the back of the circle because I had no idea what was going on and was basically a lost cause. I ended up standing next to Dr. Berman and we both kind of looked at each other with confused but interested smiles.
After being there for no longer than maybe half an hour our visit was done and a lot sooner than anticipated. That being said all of us were very pleased when Dr. Berman said that we had a few hours to kill before we got on the bus for our next visit to Ascenx Technologies. So with all the down time we decided to go shopping at the Tax Center, which is basically a mall. The place was pretty cool and it was actually cheaper than the market. I guess that makes sense because the market is a tourist area. At the tax center you still get to barter which is awesome. I got a zippo for myself and I think I’m going to go back and get one for my friend too. They look pretty cool and I think it’d be a cool gift. They also had these really awesome “Mot Hai Ba Yo!” shirts. The saying is what they say before they drink in Vietnam kind of like “Cheers” or “Salute!”.
After shopping we headed back to the hotel to catch the bus to Ascenx technologies. This company is really cool and my favorite of the visits so far. The CEO and his assistant or right hand man are both native Vietnamese who escaped during the unification on a boat and made their way to the US and got their education in the states as well. After some time they came back to Vietnam to seize an opportunity for their company. What Ascenx Technologies does is to reengineer outdated processes and machinery. Which I find pretty cool. They were cool enough to let us walk around their facility and talk to their workers about their projects and their job in general. They all seem to love working for them and there is just a very pleasant atmosphere surrounding this company. I would really love to see them be successful in their work and perhaps one day I will be able to do business with or for them. Tung Bach, the CEO, was a great guy and invited us all for coffee after the presentation. We all went down to the coffee shop and just talked like we were old friends. It was a great experience. [While we were having coffee Dr. Berman and Bach’s friend were talking about the war and Dr. Berman pulled out a picture of himself while he was in Vietnam fighting for the US. I thought this was a really cool moment and over the past days I have really had my outlook on the war changed just by being around Dr. Berman and being in Vietnam and listening to everyone’s stories.] The coffee experience was a great one that I will never forget and they even gave us a suggestion for another burger/American restaurant called the Black Cat.
Needless to say we were very grateful for the coffee and the time with the people from Ascenx. We headed for the black cat just as soon as we got changed into some more comfortable clothes. The place was really kind of cool. A little small but really really good. We walked upstairs and were seated and immediately we flipped to the burger page of the menu. I got a double cheese burger with bacon and barbeque sauce with some onions on top. It was phenomenal and make me just as giddy as the O’Briens burger did. I think I demolished this monster burger in under 4 minutes.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rendezvous before we left for ladies night at Lush. Lush was exceptionally crowded that night but it was full of a lot of beautiful ladies. I actually ended up hanging out with the one Vietnamese girl for a while . After finding the group again and seeing the state of everyone, especially Matt and Kyle fist pumping like nuts, I decided to just hang out for a while. Soon after we left and headed back to the hotel for some shut eye. Today was a great day and the site visit to Ascenx has proven to be my favorite part of this trip.
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