After finishing another breakfast at the hotel buffet, we bussed over to the UEF building for today’s lecture focused on Urban development, and the changes that have occurred in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh city. Whereas much of yesterday’s lecture was focused on the changes that have occurred near the Mekoing Delta due to climate change and environmental factors, we learned more specifically today about how Ho Chi Minh City has changed. Within the city, environmental factors are also an important piece in terms of urban development. But these factors are more closely related to the effects of overpopulation and pollution rather than climate change. Another important factor in the urban development of Ho Chi Minh city was the Vietnam war. Following the war, much of Ho Chi Minh city was destroyed leading to an eventual rebuild of the city. The devastation of the war was able to jumpstart the renovation process of many buildings as well as an improvement of infrastructure.

Following the lecture we went over to McDonald’s for some authentic Vietnamese hamburgers and french fries. It was interesting to see the similarities in the food options offered at McDonald’s in Vietnam compared to the United States. They also have some items not offered in the United States including fried chicken and green tea McFlurries.  

After lunch we got to visit Glass Egg Digital Media, a company that designs cars, guns, characters and other items for their use in video games. They work with companies like Sony and EA and provide them with the cars and characters that are used in many popular games such as Call of Duty and Need for Speed. In the software development industry Glass Egg faces some unique challenges. In many instances, Glass Egg knows exactly what car or gun needs to be produced in a game, but occasionally they are asked to create concepts that don’t actually exist to put in games. This leads to the issue of creating something that currently doesn’t exist, but if someone wanted to have it, it could conceivably be created. Another issue they face relates to working in Vietnam. Because the majority of similar design companies are in China, it is difficult to get clients to come visit and hear their pitch when they could visit 20 other companies by just going to China. On the other hand, this does work in Glass Egg’s favor in terms of employee turnover. In China it is very common for people who work at these game design companies to constantly switch companies and take new jobs. But, because Glass Egg only has one or two competitors in Vietnam, their employee turnover rate is much lower than that of many similar Chinese companies. Finally, Glass Egg is very content with their current position in the industry. They have a number of loyal clients that allow them to continue doing business on franchise games like Forza and Need for Speed. Also, the only way Glass Egg could expand would be by dipping into a completely different industry such as TV or movies which is currently not in their plans.  

Wish me luck in karaoke tonight, and I’ll keep everyone updated as we continue our trip!