Day 3 of My Viet Nam Adventure

Day 3 began similar to the other days - a good breakfast, then a bus ride over to UEF. I was greatly anticipating class this morning, as we were having our first class on Vietnamese history and culture. I was not disappointed. Our professor exuded enthusiasm, and was passionate about Vietnamese history. The Vietnamese have a proud, rich culture, and I was really glad to learn more about it. For me, the most interesting part was gaining some perspective on how the Vietnamese view their own history (a big thing for me to learn, as a history major. The most important knowledge I gained from my history class at Pitt is that history is all about interpretation). The Vietnamese see their history as one long struggle for independence against oppressors and invaders, whether they are Chinese, French, or American. The main reason why they don't harbor ill will against Americans is this: we were in Viet Nam for about 15 years, the French maybe 60-70 or so, but the Chinese ruled Viet Nam for over 1000 years. Our professor said that "in the history of the world, only two peoples have been ruled over for that long a time - the Vietnamese people and the Jewish people." He also said, "Every single Chinese dynasty, from the Ching up til now, has attacked Viet Nam at least once. Hu Jintao (current President of China) - not yet." Though the Vietnamese are currently on pretty good terms with the Chinese, there is an underlying sense of distrust that I found really fascinating.

Our afternoon site visit was incredible. We went to see the Phu My Hung Corporation, an urban development corporation located in South Saigon. South Saigon is actually their master project. Since I'm going into Civil Engineering, this stuff is right up my alley, and I was really excited to hear what they had to say. As we entered South Saigon, I was stunned at the difference between this new area (District 7) and the older districts of the city. The only difference between South Saigon and an American city such as Miami is the number of motor bikes. The facilities of Phu My Hung were up to standards with American business (as were those at Glass Egg the day before). The presentation at Phu My Hung was really interesting. Over the course of the past 20 years, they have turned a minimally populated swamp into the foundation for a new downtown center for HCMC. They have planned out everything - roads, bridges, waste mangement systems, corporate buildings, residential buildings, and even landscaping. I found the entire project really interesting. It would definitely be something I'd be willing to get into.

That evening, a group of us went down to the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel. The Rex is an important landmark in the center of District 1. The rooftop had a really nice atmosphere. It was a very relaxing place to hang out. There was a cool breeze blowing in, we had amazing views of the city, and the entertainment was excellent. There was one really good band that came on, a string group that played a lot of salsa music (from what I've seen, the Vietnamese seem to be really into Latin music, for whatever reason). All in all, it was a great place to finish off the evening. More updates coming soon!