Tag: Young

The things they still carry

The war novel with similar title was surprisingly good. I have known about it for a while, but couldn’t get myself to “carry” it home. Until now. Until it’s translated into Vietnamese.

It’s the opposite of reading Bao Ninh‘s The Sorrows of War in English.

Both novels had the same setting, same period, same conflict, same ending (went down with whatever they were carrying, on their bodies and on their minds).

Sorry winner and lucky loser.

All the while, the sound track for that same period was Proud Mary (you don’t have to worry, for people are happy to give).

In The Things They Carried, supplies were chopper-ed in (chocolate, cigarettes and C-rations). The military industrial complex was “happy to give”, from Hartford, from MN etc…

Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.

I could barely get through the first few chapters, reading about the members of this fictitious company as they went down, with the things they carried (one of them even carried sleeping pills – for eternal rest).

We can now look back, with recognized names like J. Kerry, J. Fonda etc… at a  safe and rational distance, away from the heat of Kent State and Watergate and My Lai.

I have seen the things people here in VN carry, on their shoulders, on their scooters.

But inside, unless they sit down and tell me, the hidden things that they still carry are scary.

Those with vivid memories are dying one by one, on both sides of the Pacific.

We got scholarly volumes and doctrine (Powell) on the conflict.

And we eventually got Burger King and Dunkin here in VN. It’s like the tunnel is finally closed  with sign which says “Go away, leave the past alone”.

For here or to go?

It’s Future Land now. Happy Land. Disney Land. Dream Land. It has to be.

Yes. Young students carry a lot with them today: book bags, smart phones,  eye glasses, cigarettes, lighters, even IDs. No dog tags. No Zippos. No memories.

Just a bunch of “nic’s” and passwords. Everything is in the Cloud. On Facebook. On Drop Box and Mail Box.

To search for them. Easy. Just Google. In Vietnamese, or English. No translation needed. Sorrows of War or The Things They Carried. Instant access.

Perhaps that war, Vietnam that was, was the last  “hardware-driven” conflict.

No wonder, the things they carried, seemed awfully heavy and burdensome when viewed from a light-weight I-pad.

Saigon alley

I left W Palm Beach where some called “paradise” for Saigon alley.

Going from beach to bunker, I got a bump up in  the Happiness index.

Costa Rica for example has led this chart for quite sometime.

Vietnam, according to latest survey, ranked behind Costa Rica. In fact, having moved up on the Happiness  Index, it is de-listed from Singaporean Hardship Index (expat executives are no longer granted extra compensation for coming to work here).

Saigon got seasonal fruits, sea foods and sunshine.

Its nearest beach, Vung Tau, is quite crowded over the big holidays.

People in the alley know one another. They hang out at the corner coffee and eat the same meal.

District 1 and its alleys are geared for backpackers and tourists.

I had ended up first at the outer skirt then moved closer to city ‘s center.

Landlords are nice and respectful.

Neighbors are caring. Strangers leave you alone, although gossip behind your back.

Once in a while, a white-face is seen on scooters, with helmet and all.

A Viet Kieu from Australia told me after more than two decades, he could barely crack the culture code.

One dollar is still equal roughly 20,000 VND.

But aside from that, nothing seems easy. I miss the cinemas. Those old facilities have been turned into textile factory, print shop or opera school.

Valuable real estate.

Live shows here could be heard from the street. Some even stood on their scooters to take a peak (coi cop).

Karaoke houses still make money.

On summer nights, lovers  just ride around for ventilation .

They do that year-round, since it’s hot, flat and crowded here.

Neighbors would ask me to come over for tea.

Children run around, and young parents struggle to contain them.

Raising a family on two-wheelers is of course hard.

Worker bees know they have to show up on time, rain or shine.

Wages barely cover the essentials.

So coffee, coffee and occasional “ken” (Heineken) is a treat.

Birthday celebrations have become more prevalent. This is to show Vietnam’s transition from the old (memorial for the dead -a collectivistic and clanish event) to the new (futuristic and individual-oriented occasion).

Young students are catching on with overseas peers, at least in appearance (T-shirt and jeans).

IT workers at software parks also try to catch up : LTE, 4-G and IPV6.

The best about Vietnam is that it rides on two horses: the venerable and heroic tradition ; and the insatiable desire to integrate globally.

No where explains this better than Saigon’s latest tourism expo.

It’s held in the city’s water park, to show case local cuisine and at the same time, destination exotic.

Individual cubicle at work blends perfectly with shared rice cooker.

Saigon, the city, and its alleys, home to many extended families.

Pax Saigonese. It’s peace time, so don’t send war journalists here.

Just move about, and enjoy the counter-intuitive trends that co-exist.

Saigon alley, my home for half a year. Paradise or purgatory? Hardship or Happiness? Or just Peace inside out.

Vietnam got juice

Coconut, sugar cane and other tropical blend to your liking.

http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2011/12/99081/

POM(agrenade) has made a blast as new entry into the American juice shelves.

Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me got around to make a movie about brands.

His VIP sponsor: POM juice.

Branding is both mystical and magical.

It helps institutions and companies thrive and survive the downturn.

When in doubt, keep the cards closer to your chest: TIDE, Coca Cola, British Council.

Honda has suffered some unexplainable scooter explosion lately in Vietnam.

Its nearest competitor, Yamaha, finally gets a leg-up.

(in the US, it’s Hyundai who rules in the wake of Fukushima and Bangkok disaster).

In fact, brand tends to jockey for its nearest one: Vietnam might move up to number 1 rice exporter which has been held by Thai Land.

The Republican presidential candidates know this very well: it’s the poll that takes one up and another poll drags him/her down.

(Two different actresses are jockeying for the role of portraying Sarah Palin; art is more competitive than life).

Vietnam itself can use some brand improvement.

Young and educated work force? Check.

Untapped or not-yet-saturated consumer market? Check.

Strong motivation to leap-frog into software and service? Check.

Second Happiest Country on Earth (Costa Rica being no Uno)? Check.

But then we got traffic congestion in those very same growing centers that are the lures first hand.

Vietnam got lucky by being cautious during the 1997 Asian crisis, and 2007 with the housing-bubble crisis. As my nephew would say, “the poor got their own way of enjoying life”.

First Lady Obama would have a hard time with her childhood obesity campaign here (might have to give KFC’s some head start first). A Wisconsin lawmaker made a remark (then a retract) about her derriere – as a way of saying, what made you qualify to preach. Nobody said anything about Nancy Reagan when she was into “Say No to Drug”, but herself said “Yes to Astrology”.

OK, Vietnam got juice. Vietnam got lucky. Vietnam got work to do to improve its brand (and image). It also has to campaign internally so its sons and daughters will want to come back and work here. All those ambitious, talented folks have fled overseas, a crisis in brain-drain.

Nobody is into patriotism (except when watching a soccer match. Even in the fox hole, one dies for his comrades, not country).

Policy makers will have to help people connect the dots: English-academic success-overseas advanced degree-upward mobility-wealth–recognition among peers – influence which then reinforces life long learning  which leads to a fulfilling life.

Those dots are often not connected or only to a certain point, then leveled off (collectively, it’s called middle-income trap) short-changing the dream.

Both camps (quick money-making trade such as manicure in the US and slow-burned academia pursuit in Liberal Arts) often found themselves at odd with each other. So while Vietnam got juice, Vietnamese run out of them.

When world attention returns to Vietnam, after having focused elsewhere over the past few years, will it find a people who got juice? Or just a place? I hope they will find a country with more smiles and smarts.

club elements

To have a good time takes some planning. To organize a dance party for instance.. Yet, here in Saigon, it’s happenin every night of the week, and more so during this festive holiday. Clubbing however is for stress relief. It got sight, smoke, sound and scene.

The feel.

Players know where to go, to spot a “happenin”.

When young, I often organized dance parties. So I know a thing or two about how to create a structure and space for bon vivant.

Energy creates a chain of its likeness. Contagious.

DJ’s, lighting, booze, dance partners, and those at tables nearby and guards, all contributing to success at clubbing.

The rhythm of the night, I want nobody but you, Every move you make etc…

are the must haves.  There is a peak time for every party, when everyone seems to be “in the zone”. A party synergy.

When no table looks at the others, that’s when people lost themselves in “the rhythm of the night”.

I threw a Christmas party in my basement the first Winter at Penn State.

Vietnamese abroaders showed up. We dimmed the lights and gave it a try.

It was cold out, yet warm inside. Young exile men and a few female foreign exchange students, trying to make the best of the situation and occasion.

Here, it’s so commercialized, and cookie-cutter-ed (almost bionic).

But still, if you thrive in clubbing sector, you can survive in business.

It’s purely market-driven and customer-service oriented, albeit young crowd. The good-time business, whose benchmark was set by studio 54.

They don’t use bouncers here. Instead, the uniformed guards circled among the crowd. And they are in your face, to make sure intoxication doesn’t lead to violence. Some clubs even have dancers on stage to catalyze and stir up the pot.

The sound is always deafening.

It’s as if people are trying to scare away the dark.

Las Vegas thrived on Hoover Dam‘s electric supplies. Here in Saigon, occasional black-outs interrupted the party. Don’t worry, we got

power generators, enough for karaoke upstairs.

Don’t be interrupted. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.

Live, love and laugh. I couldn’t remember where I was until I see the flag which reminded me that I still am in Vietnam, a Vietnam in transition,

with all the right elements in place, club elements.

P.S. As of this edit, the NYT also ran a piece on workers in China went clubbing after hours of assembling those I phones. A few years back, similar article would feature Bangalore‘s call center workers. It’s a logical and predictable outcome of automation, industrialization and human revolt against the machination of it all. The irony is, club elements involve a lot of machines: speakers, turn tables, smoke machines, light switches and fire alarm. Mr Bose, whose name is now the same as best sound system, passed away a few days ago. RIP. Who need more volume, when you can hear just fine, the music that is, and certainly not the conversation. That’s not one of club elements.