charvey in Vietnam

Sunday Morning in Saigon

The air in Saigon this morning was fresh, clean and cool (mid 70s).  Gotta take advantage of days like this so I grabbed my camera and hopped on my bike to snap some pics.

There are mobile bicycle vendors galore on Dien Bien Phu Street in District 3.  I bought some grapes from this friendly woman and she let me snap her pic.  There were also bike vendors selling onions, flowers, motorbike rear-view mirrors, handbags, books, etc. 

I've never seen a "fish-in-a-bag" vendor before so I had to get a pic of this one.  Although I didn't buy a fish, the proprietor let me take a pic anyway.  She doesn't look happy though.  Maybe she's thinking "What am I gonna do with all these freaking fish?"  I doubt they can last long in those little bags.

Another of the ubiquitous construction sites and signs around Saigon.  This one is a pretty huge site at the former location of Saigon Square, which until recently boasted the best selection of pirated DVDs in Saigon as well as various other sundries and shops.  This development is being led by a Korean group.  The Koreans are everywhere in Saigon.

Another construction site, somewhere in District 3.  Serviced apartments are going up like mad.  One long time expat friend is convinced there will be a glut of empty inventory on the market in a year or two.  My sense is that it all depends on the demand side of the equation.  Time will tell.

Ok, so I didn't take this pic today but had to include it.  Until recently, I've caught only fleeting glimpses of this dinner boat plying the Saigon waterways.  When we had a company party on another boat a few weeks ago I was able to get up close to admire the sheer artistry of this massive, floating neon piranha.  Our boat was nowhere near as cool.  Vegas, move over.

Office Humor

My old colleague and friend Btam sent me a website containing some pretty elaborate office humor.  Someone went through a lot of trouble to create this gag.  Funny.

VN Markets 30% Overvalued?

My friend Colin sent me this article on the Vietnam stock market from the Financial Times.  Interesting reading.  There certainly is a lot of anecdotal evidence that investing in Vietnam has become the hot new thing. 

Mr. Stewart Comes to Vietnam

Living in Vietnam not only provides the opportunity to learn about Vietnamese culture, but also to share a bit about American culture.  The Vietnamese are eager to learn about all things foreign, particularly what life is like in other countries.

Just before Christmas I was missing the annual American tradition of watching the 1946 holiday classic "It's a Wonderful Life"  starring film legends Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.  Not only is it a great film, but it holds particular sentiment for me.  I remember the first time I saw it in December 1988 like it was yesterday.  I was a first year college student at UVA.  A student film club has a tradition of showing the film every year just before exams begin.  I saw it with some of my buddies from my dormitory.  The club president introduced the film with an outstanding Jimmy Stewart impression. 

Watching this film touched me deeply.  As I waxed poetic about the meaning and spirit of the film walking back to the dorm, my buddies began humming "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  They were having a bit of fun with me, but the tune happened to be perfect accompaniment.  At exactly the same time, it began to snow (snowing is used as a metaphor in the film).  The warm feelings, the holiday season, the camaraderie made it one of those perfect moments you remember forever. 

It simply wouldn't do to watch this classic by myself, so I decided to share a Christmas tradition and showed it at the office with a computer projector.  While turnout was light at only about 6 people, I noticed more than a few watery eyes by the end of the film.  Several people asked me for copies of the film, wanting to share it with their families and friends.  Given that the Vietnamese are crazy about all things Christmas, perhaps the "It's a Wonderful Life" tradition will take root here as well.   

"Booming" Rhetoric

It seems that the foreign investment community has discovered Vietnam.  That's a good thing.  Mildly unsettling, however, is the media's hyperbolic rhetoric about Vietnamese economic growth.  It feels just a bit frothy.  Check out some of the hyped stories that Matt Powell, Hanoi real estate maven, lists in his excellent blog Target: Vietnam.

Business is indeed booming in Vietnam.  But will it live up to all the rhetoric?  Maybe -- weigh the evidence and decide for yourself. 

• Jon Hoff has a great post about office buildings sprouting like mushrooms throughout Saigon in a recent entry of his blog It's the Final Word.  Well, maybe not quite like mushrooms, but there are an awful lot of active construction sites for swanky office towers.

• Dan Harris, international attorney and prolific author of the China Law Blog, has written several posts about Vietnamese growth and its similarities or dissimilarities to China.  Two insightful ones are Vietnam -- Tastes Like China Lite and China is the Next China, Now; Vietnam May Be The Next China Someday.
  
  
• Matt Powell cites the Deputy General Director of Chesterton Petty Vietnam speaking about positive trends in the Vietnam property market in this post.
  
  
• VietnamWorks' quarterly Employment Indicator Report is a meaningful gauge of strong growth in labor demand.  Bear in mind, however, that growth in VietnamWorks job and resume statistics is not only a function of Vietnam's economic growth, but also of VietnamWorks' marketing and overall growth strategy.
  
  
• Check out a post I wrote back in May and the accompanying WSJ article -- Vietnam: Hype or Reality?

New VietnamWorks Office

VietnamWorks kicked off the new year in style with our move-in and opening celebration for our brand new office building, located at 130 Suong Nguyet Anh in District 1.  We had Chinese lions, dragons, a drumming corps, confetti, cake, red champagne, the works. 

Two lions perform.  Each lion had two boys inside.  The kid up front got all the glamour and winked the lion's eyes at the girls.

The Saigon Boys Drum, Lion and Dragon Corps performs.  Actually I have no idea what their name was.  Their outfits were fantastic though.

Members of the Sales Team lining up to assist in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.  The guy in white second from right looks exactly like a Vietnamese version of Chris Klein of "American Pie" fame.  He's one of our designers and a nice kid.

It's raining men!  No, wait, that's just confetti.

"New office, new success!"  Yours truly and Jonah, the company's founder and CEO.  I wish I could take credit for our shiny and spacious new office building, but Jonah did all the work. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, or "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!"  The Vietnamese love a good party and have adopted the Western new year as their own.  Crowds were out in force last night and the streets decked out in holiday finery. 

I tried to capture a bit of the magic in this pic, taken on Le Loi Street at about 12:30am on January 1, 2007.   Those little white lights above the streets are snowflakes.

VietnamWorks is ushering in 2007 with a spanking new office to house our crack team of Tech,  MIS, Sales, Marketing, Customer Care and Product specialists.  Pic taken Friday, December 29.

A few of the advance guard waited impatiently for the movers to deliver the tools of the trade so they could get back to work crushing our competiton.