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| wet market |
Friday May23rd
Today has been a day of many choices, first starting with what
time we wanted to wake up. We had the choice of sleeping in or waking up early.
Those that woke up early went back to the Ben Tanh Market get a different view
from the chaos we saw yesterday. Wet markets are common in Asian countries as
they prioritize fresh product every day. In countries like Vietnam the people
buy their meals the same day they plan to eat it. Their version of food safety
is very different compared to the states. Animals will be harvested in the
early morning, cut into primals, and sold all within 12 hours. This product
will be consumed same day as these countries have smaller fridges and do not keep
it longer than a day. They will do this every day, with sellers bringing in
only what they know they can sell. In the market we saw pork, beef, poultry,
fish, crustaceans, fruits vegetables and more.
After the market we all met in our
hotel lobby at nine am to start our journey as a group this for the first event
or activity of the day. We went to Notre
Dame Saigon Cathedrale. However, the whole front half of the church was covered
in scaffolding and has been under reconstruction since 2017 and is supposed to
be finish in 2027. The church was first built by French colonialists in 1887.
All the stonework was shipped from France when it was first under construction.
The church has been very good at withstanding the weather and all of the
traffic due to a strong foundation it was built on. The reason for the long-expected
repair time is the church has to wait for the stone to be shipped from France.
This is being very difficult in the way of sourcing the stone to match and
language barriers as well as stubbornness on the cost.
wet market 
post office 
Norte Dame Cathredral
Luckily
for us our next destination was right across the street. This was the Buu Dien
Post office, the very first built in Vietnam. This beautiful building started
being built in 1886 and was finished in 1891. The building was built by French
colonists and was as well used as a business center and still used to for
business to this day. The group had the opportunity to buy beautiful pop-up
cards or postcards and have the ability to send them to their families. We had
to buy 3 stamps to send internationally and some of us had to learn to write a
postcard, of which family and friends should be expecting in the coming weeks.
Following
the post office, ten students went off to get massages, while the remainder had
a bit of free time. Some of us went and explored the city a bit and stopped for
a cool sweet treat such as gelato, shakes and more. Others relaxed back at the
hotel and some went shopping either in surrounding store or back to the market.
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| At 7 Bridges with SDSU flag |
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| 7 Bridges |
Once everyone had returned to our meeting point and we hopped on the bus for a short drive to 7 Bridges. This was set up with the U.S. Grains Council as a means to bring in barley and establish a trade demand. We heard from the U.S. Representative Gigi who has been working to increase trade and work on answering questions on animal feed products. This company is local to Vietnam starting in 2017 and growing. It was based on their founder “Uncle Stanleys” idea of sustainability. Stanley had an interest in craft beers and was learning how to make his own when his mentor was about to throw away the grain byproduct he asked why and was not content with the answer, so he set out to develop ways to reuse and add value to it. Through this process of building from the ground up, the name seemed to come easily in the form of a joke within a business meeting, the founder jokes that Da Nang was “The city of 7 bridges,” of which starting a debate on the number of bridges there were amongst the shareholders. This was a lighthearted story with its own meaning and adding to what the company stands for when it comes down to being as “sustainable” as possible. The reason they push for more is to help develop a small way. The 2024 Earth Day Report asked if “Small was green?” in laymen’s terms, no. However, to dig into it more it is relevant to size and scale, it is easier for a large producer to make a small change to recycle their byproducts or use less of something as they can afford it, but it may also make them more money or reduce the cost of production. Smaller on the other hand, has less leeway with this and must find other ways to accomplish sustainability.
7 Bridges works to be sustainable by taking the distilled
grain from the hops after brewing by drying it and grinding into a flour used
for pizza dough, crackers and more. They also rebirth their yeast and they will
take off the top of the yeast and reuse it. The company was kind enough to provide
free pizzas for us while waiting to get our meals as well as drinks. The menu
had a wide variety of items to choose from, many of us got burgers and more
pizza. Don’t forget this is a brewery, so more than a few beer flights to taste
went around the room. Don’t forget this is Vietnam the legal drinking age is 18
years old.
7 Bridges headquarters is in Da Nang. At their headquarters
they craft all their specialty beer, whereas they contracted out all their big
orders. The company, while working to publicize sustainability in a developing
country, has seen some improvement but is slow with the changes in generational
preferences.
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| Cruise for Jackrabbits |
Following this we had a four-hour break of which students did more of what was explained earlier on, and maybe ventured further into the city for shopping, spa visits, and more. Many of us girls spent some of that time getting ready for the supper cruise that was in the evening on the Saigon River. While we were told it was not a “fancy” occasion, many girls chose to wear dresses or skirts and the guys in nice button downs. Once we arrived to the port, we admired the many ships there decorated with lights and bumping with music. Once we got to our boat the group took the chance to get some pictures to remember the evening. Dinner was served buffet style at 6:45 and had many options of which we had at one point or another on the trip. There were new things like escargot and clams that many brave souls tried. Following the meal we pulled off the port for a relaxing time up and down the river, different decks offered different entertainment from singers and dancers to the sights of Ho Chi Min, a great ending to a great day.
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| Cruise meal |
Tam Biet, Brynn
Lozinski and Mathew Ridgeway
