Home Sweet Home!

The Furman Crew with Ms. Fulbright

Our Vietnamese Team for the week!

Well well well, we have arrived back to the USA! It has been one looong week (not to mention a veryy long plane ride!). Since our last posting, we have done a lot of really cool things! Saturday was a very busy day for us. We arrived at the National Convention Center early in the morning to hear PM John Howard of Australia speak at the summit. It was really neat to see him, because his office will be running APEC next year when we travel to Sydney.

This was the podium that all of the HEADS OF STATE spoke from!!

PM of Australia, John Howard

Following his speech, we participated in more interviews with ABAC leaders and CEOs of businesses who regularly participate in the summit, including Timothy Ong, the founder and CEO of AsiaInc Forum (and AsiaInc magazine--huge!) and Bob Prieto, the CEO of Fluor (as in Fluor Daniel!). These interviews were really neat, because we were able to get to know these leaders on a more personal level.

Our last speaker of the afternoon was Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Given the fact that she was 20 minutes late at the podium, she did give an awesome speech and left all of us wanting more. The question and answer session she led after her speech included issues such as the importance of global education, women in politics, and the US' confidence in its foreign policy.

Then we were whisked away for a very special interview, one to wrap up our time in Vietnam. We were on our way to interview with GENERAL GIAP...the one and only! General Giap is a Vietnamese four star general, who was the military leader of teh Viet Minh guerrilla group under Ho Chi Minh's government. It was such an amazing opportunity to see him in person, as he is approaching 100 years of age. He spoke with us and even took some of our questions about how he was able to join the army and make such a difference in the life of Vietnam. He charged us with taking our own leadership roles and making a difference in our communities.

The General with Ms. Fulbright...the group was crowded in a small room in his house

We finished our time at the conference with some more shopping in the old quarters, followed by a closing gala dinner, in which we were able to see the people we had met throughout the week and wish them safe travels. All in all, it was an amazing night to end a wonderful week!

Ms. Fulbright with Dr. Shi's book

Now I sit back in my chair at Furman thinking about all of the amazing opportunities we were just given, as well as the chance of a lifetime to see Vietnam. I cannot believe the amazing contacts that I just made in one week, and who will remain my friends and colleagues for a long time. I am so thankful for the Riley Insitute giving me this opportunity and this ability to network in a way that is unforgettable.

Yay airplane pictures!

And so now, I will pack my things and head home for Thanksgiving break...and to catch up on much needed sleep! Until next year...APEC 2007: Sydney, Australia!


Cindy

Getting caught in the stream of things...

Sorry for this post being late, but last night was a late one...

Yesterday we began our real business in Vietnam. We made our first tripto the Convention Center and attended the "Doing Business with Vietnam" forum. It was an opportunity for business leaders in Vietnam to advertise to the world as well as foreign investors to network. Vietnam's recent growth is staggering, and we saw much of that on ourvisit to the industrial zone Wednesday. There are so many changes, but it leaves so much to be desired, as it is impossible to ignore the stunning economic gap between those that have caught up with the international economy and those that have not. But much of the purpose of the Doing Business with Vietnam Forum was to bring exposure to these issues as investors consider coming into Vietnam and Vietnamese business peoplec onsider expanding their markets.

The assembly opened with an address from the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung, and he expressed the desire for Vietnam to become truly engaged in the Asian, APEC, and world economies. Following his speech, we listened to some other speeches and panel discussions, including representatives from BP, Intel, the UNDP, GE, the EC, and Oracle. They expressed their perspectives on the current state of the Vietnamese economy and the possibilities for further expansion in the future.

Later that morning I had the opportunity to listen to an interiew between Bloomberg TV and Susan Schwab, the U.S. Trade Representative. It was interesting to hear her optimism on the restarting of the Doha talks and the concern that the U.S. is not moving on granting PNTR with Viet Nam as quickly as APEC would like. Our group was able to interview a Vietnamese farmer-turned-businessman that exports food to Asia, North America, and Europe. It was a different perspective on Viet Nam joining the world market than we had seen the entire conference as the company was Vietnamese, not a foreign industry coming in and setting up shop. He works with peasant farmers in rural areas of the nation and helps to include them in the global market.

Later last night we participated and watched the Cultural Night put on by the students of Hanoi University. We heard a few speakers including Mrs. Fulbright and watched a concert and other cultural demonstrations by the Vietnamese students. I was interviewed for Vietnamese television (who knows how it will turn out). We did not return to the hotels until almost midnight, so this post is just not being finished.

Today so far I have seen the Vietnamese and Chinese Presidents speak and are looking forward to getting even busier...and seeing Sec. Rice...

Later today we will be posting some more pictures to catch you all up with the visual experience.

Webb

We are so importante!

Well here's a midday posting...


Today we have moved to the National Convention Center, a building that was built just 6 months prior to the APEC CEO Summit. Today is the "Doing Business with Vietnam" program, where high profile business leaders and CEOs come to discuss foreign investment issues in Vietnam. I decided to wander a bit with a few of the Mexicans around the hotel. We came upon an area where there was a large group of media. We stood with them just to see what was going on...and out of the blue, US Sect of State Condi Rice was lining up with ministers of governments from the 21 economies for a photo op...how cool is that? Now I can return to the USA and say that I came close (100 feet) from the Secretary of State!


Gosh I love APEC..and Voices...and the Riley Institute...

Hasta luego,

Cindy

Globalization

Today was our first day on the job. In the morning, we went to Hanoi University, where we received a briefing on interviewing and writing snapshots of CEOs from APEC member economies. Snapshots are brief reports highlighting influential business executives and political leaders within APEC. We first heard from Vietnam's Minister of Tourism, who spoke on the growing influence of tourism on Vietnam's economy. It was the first time we had to listen to a speech through a translator. I think we might have come up with our own interpretations. =) Then we heard from the UN Habitat representative, who spoke on sustainable development and economic disparities and problems within Vietnam.

The speeches were cut short because we had to hurry to tour a Japanese industrial zone. Denso is the name of a company that exports automotive parts, and we toured its main plant in Hanoi. It was really cool to see globalization right in front of our eyes. One thing that really stuck out to us was the gender discrimination. The majority of the first floor was women; they assembled the parts by hand. However, on the second floor (where the air conditioning was), male engineers designed parts for the company. In the words of Dr. Nelsen, it was "white-collar outsourcing in action."

After leaving the plant, we drove to a handicraft center where the main source of income was from pottery. We spent a short while shopping around before getting ready for the gala dinner.

Of course, we were late to the dinner and missed the keynote addresses. However the food was AMAZING, especially the desserts. We made important connections with both foreign and Vietnamese entrepreneurs. It was an exhausting but most definitely an unforgettable day.

Signing off,
Kristen and Ke

Ha Long Bay

Today we woke up soooooo early and left the hotels at 6am to go to Ha Long Bay. The bay is a world heritage site, known for its clear water and series of islands with unusual hills. The drive to the bay took about 4 hours. We meandered through the countryside, passing rice fields. APEC signs and billboards let the whole way. The most interesting part was that there were very few billboards with Vietnamese communist propaganda.

Three other points are worth mentioning about the drive. First, people and oxen worked all the fields with non-mechanized implements. The government owns all the land and leases it to people. Nevertheless, land is divided into small parcels that people work on.

Second, there is sooo much construction. Buildings are made out of cinder blocks and plaster. They are tall and skinny and look like a strange mix of French and stereotypical Asian styles. The buildings are tall, because the leased price of land to people is determined by building width. The buildings are also constructed with future construction in mind- the sides are left unfinished in case neighbors decide to build, too. At one part during the drive, we saw factories (they might have been power plants, it's hard to tell) along the whole horizon. There's construction everywhere. Third, visibility was extremely poor all day. It's a mixture of pollution, smog, humidity, and dust. Partially it's due to old vehicles and factories. Also, all the construction is putting lots of dust into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, the poor visibility did not spoil the views of Ha Long Bay.

We took junk/boats into the bay and docked on one of the islands. The island was full of calcite caves lit up with colored lights. We wandered around the surprisingly hot caves and took in the beauty of the vegetation, views of the bay, and we tried to figure out what all the rock formations looked like.

Afterwards, we got back on the junk and put-put-putted to a floating fish farm of sorts for lunch. We ate crab, octopus, shrimp, fish, rice, vegetables, spring rolls, and other food that wasn't immediately identifiable! We came back, rode the 4 hour bus back to Hanoi, and exhausted ate dinner. Time for bed, because it's another long day tomorrow!!!

- Daniella

Day One..and done :)

Bye Bye GSP!

Well, we've lived through our first day in Hanoi. Needless to say, we are very excited that we have survived the language barrier and the TRAFFIC! Today was a great day to really take it easy and get to know the rest of our student groups. We began the morning with a filling breakfast, complete with Vietnamese noodles and Chicken soup :). Following breakfast, we had the chance to walk around and do a bit of market shopping and Vietnamese watching...very very different lifestyles!

This afternoon, we went to Hanoi University where we met our sponsors for the week. We are teaming up with Hanoi University to organize our week and to meet the team of Vietnamese organizers. We were also able to go to the Temple of Literature and take a tour, following the introductions at the university.

We finished the evening with a very filling buffet style meal at the Potomac restaurant, which is actually a floating restaurant on Westlake. Overall, we had a great time and are super excited about the week's events! Tomorrow we head along to HaLong Bay for an all day trip...check back tomorrow evening for a full day's summary!

See you soon!

Cindy Y.

We are here!

Welcome to our spot on the web! We have arrived in Vietnam and have hit the ground running! Please visit our site throughout the week for updates and pictures of our experiences, written by the Furman delegation to APEC 2006!

Please post comments too! We'd love to hear from you!

Cindy