| From:
Mike Violette, Director
of AmericanTCB, Inc. Received: July, 2007 |
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July 2007 Hi Everyone, A short one today because I’ve got a ton of laundry to do. And while I’m scratching off humdrum tasks on my to-do list, I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts on our recent excursions to Taiwan and Vietnam (via the IEEE EMC Conference in Hawaii).
Westward Ho The EMC Society conference in Hawaii is a disappearing memory of mai tais, coconuts, bad EMC jokes and fresh pineapple juice. We (the collective Washington Labs, Rheintech and ATCB family) got together in Honolulu for the conference and some sun and sunburn. Start early
One connection later
First chill with Desmond and Steve
Chillin’ later.
The UVs got the best of my knuckle-head the day we drove motorbikes around the island. By the time I got to Vietnam, my head was in full molt. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. Never too old to do something dumb. On the positive side, most of us managed to find our way there and a good many of us came back. For my daughter and I, reacquainting ourselves with our partners and colleagues in Taiwan is fortuitous; heck, we’re half-way there already, so we decide to keep jetting west. The other objective is to connect with our Vietnamese colleagues in Saigon to finish the planning for our October Conformity Assessment conference in Hanoi and Saigon. As for the IEEE EMC meeting, there were some great opportunities for bonding and branding activities. Most people were in a pretty laid back mood; there were many suggestions offered for opening our Hawaii branch; I don’t think we’d have a lack of team to staff the office. Taipei and Beyond For starters, we’re trying a new twist on our communications: some short videos for your enjoyment. Here’s a piece to whet your appetite, compiled by Leila. Arriving Taipei on a Saturday means that we have a Sunday to explore, so we pop over to the theatre next door and sit with a capacity crowd to watch “Harry Potter” on the big screen. He’s as popular here as the US. The film is subtitled in Chinese, so the audience gets the jokes before the actors say them…reminiscent of a poorly mixed “laugh track” from a bad1960s movie. The following day we’re heading out of town to see Hua Lien, on the east coast of Taiwan, about a three hour train ride from Taipei. Ted and Major bid us adieu.
We take the three hour “local” train down the coast of Taiwan and arrive at Hualien and meet our tour. Once aboard the bus, we see where they live, modest homes, nice cars, a genteel village.
And where they rest.
After a brief lunch, we are on our way to view the Taroko Gorge, named by the aborigines (The Bunun Peoples) that, aside from dress in native costumes reminiscent of Native American Mayan garb, celebrate the Millet Seed Festival by singing the entreaty “Pasibutbut” to pray for a bumper crop of millet. Let’s hope it works every year for them; can’t have too much millet when your livelihood depends on it.
Hua Lien has an extensive military base, with an airfield that is within slingshot distance of the sea. “The mountain is hollow” apparently, filled with places to hide airplanes and defensive equipment to be used for a war that will hopefully never be fought. Under the strategies and scenarios for a war with the PRC, the military planners in Taiwan figured that the West coast of Taiwan would fall in three days. The military would then retreat to the East coast and carry on the effort from the hardened base. Now, today, the coastline is quiet and long beaches are kissed by surf that patiently grind the multi-hued rocks into sand, as it has for millennium and will for years after we’re not even memories anymore. Since Taiwan is on a fault line, the stone is a mix of metamorphic rock that has been pushed up from the ocean (as opposed to the volcanic Hawaiian Islands). The stones on the beach are the rounded reminders of millions of years of mixing minerals, crushed and reformed and broken down again.
The tectonic activity has also created the Taroko Gorge, our ultimate destination, where we’ll spend day on a bus winding though the precipitous canyon. The Taroko Gorge is a phenomena that cuts through the middle of the 3000 foot-tall Central mountain and is accessed by a most amazing road, carved into the side of the gorge, where busses wind precariously close to three hundred foot drops. Take your agoraphobia pills if you buy an excursion ticket. We stop occasionally to snap pictures.
Watch out for falling rocks—really.
And I am not an overly religious person, but somehow, the foam in my cup of coffee displays an ominous image.
I’ve enhanced it purely for scientific purposes. Can Disney be far behind this place?
The evening is spent at the “Promised Land” resort, which is family-friendly kitschy fun: water sports, a canal that winds through the ten or so buildings, and a “western” restaurant complete with saddle-shaped bar stools. My young chaperone guarantees that I won’t spend any time on, or falling off, the bar stools and we retire after a buffet dinner. One night is enough because that’s all we have and the morning greets us with a mild earthquake, which rattles the lamp on the table and dissipates within a few seconds. We are reminded of the movement of the Earth miles below our beds. The return to Taipei is by high speed train no, not THE high speed train, but one that cuts an hour from the three hour trip. THE high speed train joins the North, Middle and South of Taiwan with a 180km/hour high tech rocket, last featured in March of this year. Back to the big city for a quick rest, repack our crap and get on another plane. This time we choose the direct route from Taipei to Saigon, and, as I tell myself (again) directs are best, because the dang distances between cities in Asia are so long already. If you have a stop/layover, you’ve basically killed a whole day, instead the better part of one. So, an early departure from the Victoria hotel and a 3 hour hop to Ho Chi Minh City. From Swords to A-Shares You know by now that you can catch a flight to and from Saigon to and from nearly anywhere in Asia: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Phnom Penh. What is interesting is the way that Taiwan and Hong Kong dominate the destinations on the “Departures” marquee at the Saigon Airport.
To see so many flights to Hong Kong is not surprising, but the number of flights to Taiwan is interesting. Must be a lot of business going on between the two. Later, Major comments that the Taiwanese prefer to business with Vietnam over India, for example. That’s not surprising, given their common heritage, but which is not so easily explained because it goes back a few thousand years. Anyway, during our discussion, I note another curious, but not too-surprising development in Major’s orientation about China. Now, for those who haven’t met him yet, Major is retired Taiwan Air Force Colonel, and I think one of the most erudite people I have met. Besides that, during the past few years we’ve been working in China, Major’s perspectives have been invaluable, particularly vis-à-vis Taiwan’s engagement with China. During much of his career, the Taiwan Defense establishment was essentially on a cold-war footing with the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) in Red China. Now, with more ties connecting—no, more like weaving— personal and business interests together, much of the everyday fear is dissipating towards a single mind. This is evident in the comments that Major made about China’s history with Vietnam, for example. “We (China) have had a lot of influence over Vietnam.” Why did this strike me as interesting? Well, it’s one of the first time I’ve heard him say a collective “we”, meaning all of greater China. If mental reunification is underway, can political and economic unification be far behind? As they say, I digress. Back to the airport: We’re on our way from HCMC back to Taipei, however, having finished up our business during a short stay in Vietnam. A fruit salad of nationalities spread through the terminal of Tan Son Naht international airport, not to mention in tourist areas of Ho Chi Minh City. French, German, Dutch, Brits as well as Asians of every flavor. India is well-represented and in the queue heading out from Saigon to Taichung (Taiwan): one in ten appear to be from that country. Our Vietnam Mission a Success Forget the timewarp here, hey! It’s a blog. I do have some success to report: our colleagues at the QUATEST3 laboratories have agreed to work together with us on a conformity assessment conference in October with the following lofty Mission and Goal: To promote and further trade ties and US linkage on industry and regulatory levels. We (us Yankees) are actively seeking the implementation of US standards and methods into the emerging Vietnamese market. By expanding US engagement in the product and conformity assessment arena, helping the development of Vietnamese standards and processes that align with US practice, the environment for US commerce and trade is favorably enhanced. So the Good News~We got the agreement signed, in-hand and are heading back to implement the program on FOOD and ELECTRICAL Standards. (But you know me by now—it’s just another excuse to come back.) On an excursion to the Mekong River (a kidney-rattling two hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City), we meet American Guy Scott, who is with the Bombay company, a US furniture store that is popular in suburban shopping malls. Scott’s business is currently located in Dong Guan in Guandong province in Southern China; if you remember, we did our own trip to Dong Guan last year and made a movie. Labor is too expensive, so his Chinese sources are opening factories in Vietnam to provide cheaper furniture for our living rooms. So, here you have a North American company contracting with a Chinese company that’s employing local Vietnamese manufacturers. Well there’re is plenty of that to be had. There is certainly no lack of labor here, that is for sure. Why did I come back? It’s not for the street food, although local establishments are legion. All you need is ten square feet and a big aluminum pot. Delivery is also available…the one shot I missed: delivery people on bicycles carrying a tray of bowls of steaming soup. It’s not for the shopping, although if you have a hundred bucks in your pocket, you can get enough stuff from the Ben Thanh market to fill a second, or third suitcase. And it’s not for the sightseeing, although even a casual drive around any part of the city is enough to make one exhausted…why? Because my brain is hard-put to process the action, kinetic energy and the overpowered human-ness of every street and alley. No, ultimately it’s because there is no place like this on the planet at this time. Even China, with it’s expanding activities and powerful economic engine, is almost “static” by Vietnam’s standards, at least for this traveler. I get a sense that the business vision and expectations are most innate and casually approached—like they never really went away under the hard axe of communism. Contrast that with my “early” days in China (heck, only eight years ago): everyone was struck by a fever, everyone was ready to make a deal, and make some cooperation. The Vietnamese that I’ve met take a more pragmatic approach, less hyperventilating, more measured. This may be explained, in part, by the vestiges of the French Colonial period (which they didn’t erase during the 10 years of darkness) and the nearly twenty years of engagement during the “American Period” (~1955-1975). Cu Chi We visited Cu Chi (pronounced “Koo-Chee” and not to be identified with part of Charo’s wiggly tagline), home of the famous Cu Chi Viet Cong Tunnel complex, now turned into a patriotic site for the memory of the VC resistance during its wars with the French and US. Sensitivities obviously run sky-high on this issue, but it doesn’t really matter what side of the Vietnam issue you fall, this work certainly demonstrates that an indominatable spirit lived in the jungles northwest of Saigon. It’s impressive to view the vestiges of the 200 kilometers of tunnels that contained liing space, command centers, operating rooms and battle positions. It’s certainly uncomfortable viewing the documentary film that preceded our tour: Mythical figures from the local peasantry rose up against the American Enemy and cut them down.
To be fair, one can’t imagine loving someone who drops bombs and napalm on your head. These images and stories, too, sharpen the memories of my youth, where the ghostly VC would come out at night, lay traps, wage guerilla war and disappear again underground—the stuff of nightmares. Now we’re harmless tourists.
Snake Wine
The tunnels certainly demonstrate a long-term commitment to ridding the country of its occupiers. Apparently, these tunnels were constructed over the course of some 20 years, beginning as the French Colonial period was winding down after WWII and continuing through America’s involvement. This is certainly a facet of the country’s personality: a tradition of repelling occupying forces, going back over two thousand years of history. Cu Chi is is covered with jungle now, but large craters from 500 lb bombs dot the woods. These vegetation-filled wounds are a good fifteen to twenty foot deep and are labeled here and there with simple signs so you don’t miss the import. Of course, the visit ends with a trip to the souvenir shop. “Bia” (beer—Tiger Beer or Saigon Beer) is available, as well as cheap jade, replica “Zippo” lighters (seems to have made a big impression—you can get Zippos everywhere) and army “surplus” gear, newly-manufactured helmets. American soldiery as collectable. We either left a whole lot of stuff there, or local industries crank out the stuff by the thousand-lot. Probably both. Ms. Nga, a newly-minted college grad with a major in international studies accompanies us to Cu Chi. She is now working for QUATEST in the Marketing and Promotion Department. Only a month into the job at this point, but she is charming and solicitous, (but gets a little nervous going through the tunnels), she’s the future of Vietnam: educated and interested in Vietnam’s place in the international market. Street-Level View Back to Ho Chi Minh City for a hell ride on the front of a three-wheeler “rickshaw.” If you think your number is up, don’t jump on the front of one of these and cruise through downtown Saigon.
If you’re feeling bold, there’s no other way to experience the crush and cacophony and chaos of the street traffic.
We ask to be taken to the Ben Thanh Market is about four blocks away; my sense of the city is not very refined at this point, but I would gather that the approximate route that our driver takes us is many blocks longer, the better to justify the 500,000 dong price. Once inside the Ben Thanh Market, which dates to, at least, the early 1900s, we are met with an overwhelming display of, well, anything you can think of except for….well, I really can’t think of what I didn’t see there, except maybe dog food. The Food Channel Segment Speaking of food, I hate to disappoint Dave C, so I’ll have a run at the food we encountered. We skipped the Pho (proper pronunciation: "phuh?”), but had snails and “Buddah Jumping Over the Wall” soup. I suppose our finest meal was at “Dzoan Van Cam”, which is a cute spot in the middle of downtown Saigon. The proprietor, Ms. Dzoan, has a cooking show on TV and, at the urging of friends, opened her restaurant to publicly present her recipes. The multiple course meal runs from spring rolls wrapped in delicate rice paper, to fish cooked at the table, to escargot, to a jellied plum sweet gelatinous confit of some sort, molded in the shape of ice cubes. This is accompanied by a few Saigon Beers (bia) that wash the fried crispy rolls down nicely. To our surprise and enchantment, Ms. Dzoan pays us a visit to our table. She’s just returned from a four month visit to the US, dropping in on four cities on a general tour of cuisine and some personal matters. She will travel to Napa Valley in November for an exhibition. Mekong Redux We were here for a day last November, see: http://www.atcb.com/blog/2007-April-Asia.asp and we are the lucky guests of QUATEST3, who have kindly arranged for a tour of the Mekong River down to Vinh Long. Accompanying us is Vien, who is the brother of one of our colleagues at QUATEST3.
This gives you a sense of travel in the Mekong.
Hawaii Taiwan
Vietnam Back East to the West Six plane rides takes us back to DC. During any trip like this, one passes a meridian, a point of inflection where adventure melts into exhaustion. It’s usually well beyond the half-way point and most often occurs on the downhill side of the trip. As it does in this case. One gets a real bad case of “gotta get home” and this one is no different. By and large, though, what is most annoying about long travel is not the long queues, the security checks, the crying babies, funny smells and food, but the g*d* “friendly service and safety” announcements on board the planes. These usually occur just at a critical juncture in a book, video or snooze and quite often wakes up the sleeping babies. Do we really have to whole litany of why “fastening your seatbelt” is a good idea? I dread turbulence, not because of the bumps, but because of the painfully LOUD safety reminders. On Asian flights, it’s particularly painful. From Saigon to Taipei, the captain rambled on about the weather in Taipei, the winds out of the west, how nice it is to have us aboard “and we realize you have a choice in air travel…” The gentle and meaningless message was then repeated in Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. But the best one I heard on one of the last legs of the trip was that “…qualified flight attendants can be identified by the badges on their uniforms,” said in such a way that made me wonder how many unqualified, I daresay imposter, flight attendants had been serving me all these years! Ach, I guess I’m just grumpy because these announcement normally come at some critical part of the in-flight video program…spoiled, I suppose. Yeah, I know, I can rent “Blades of Glory” anytime, but sometimes you’re just in the right mood for a good flick and hate to have the atmosphere spoiled by a cheerful seatbelt announcement. How about “Buckle up and Shut Up”? Grumble, grumble. Time to get off this airplane. Did I mention that we’re planning our next trip in October? Who wants to come? Mike |
