A Trip to Vietnam – Part 2

On the team building day of my Vietnam business trip, they had organized a sort of treasure hunt through the city (Ho Chi Minh City – HCMC). We were supposed to find clues to the whereabouts of a lady called Mai who had remained in Vietnam, but her former friend/lover had left for the US after the communists took over. Now he returned, thirty years later, and we were supposed to find Mai for him following up clues in town.

One interesting clue station was a flower market where not only flowers are for sale.



It seems to be a hub for chicken fights and I managed to take a snapshot of a guy inspecting one of the gamecocks. I am not sure whether gamecocks are illegal or not, if they are, the rules cannot be very strict, since the birds were all over the market place.



Another remarkable location was our lunch venue – the propaganda restaurant. Let me put it under the category socialist art. I remain unsure about the intention behind this decoration. Is it meant as criticism? Patriotism? Simply appreciation of this kind of style? It was interesting for sure!



The clue hunt also led us to the Binh Tay retail market. Wow. I’ve never seen so many goods cramped into such a small space. No ariconditioning inside the hall, hundreds of tiny stalls packed to the ceiling with goods, people in between eating their lunch, sleeping, doing business and all that with barely enough space for their bodies – if you are prone to claustrophobia, I don’t recommend going there