Day Nine: Tuesday

Before we went to our site visit, we had breakfast at this french bakery we found last week. Its great because we can get 3 or 4 pastries for 2 dollars! Tuesday morning we went the the Vietnam version of the stock market. They were very busy since the morning was their busiest time, so our visit was very short. Afterwards, the van dropped us off at one of the malls/markets, so we could spend the morning shopping. I got most of my family gifts done, which was good. We were going to go with the guys to buy soccer jerseys on our way back to the hotel, but we ended up getting turned around looking for it and went back to the hotel. The walk was HORRIBLE and I finally understood why we never walked anywhere in the middle of the day.

For the afternoon, we went to a company called Ascenx. It was run by expats who also shared their stories of getting out of Vietnam, and then going back to set up a business. I thought it was a great experience, even though the logistics of the company were a little over my head. After the session, the CEO invited us all to coffee, in classic Vietnamese fashion. So we all went down to the coffee shop in the lobby of the building and chatted more. We ended up talking about everything from places to go at night to where to find a good burger in Vietnam. They suggested that we go to dinner at a restaurant called the Black Cat and the guys got really excited about the idea of more American Food. We ended up eating there and it was really good.

Tuesday night is ladies night, so after some mild group logistical issues in getting out, we ended the night on a really fun note. All in all, it was a very good day!