Vietnam

24/01/17

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)

Managed to take Noblet out for a 5 minute walk this morning but we had to get back to the room sharpish to accommodate his movements 😂😂

Then I went off shopping for the afternoon for new trainers!! BUZZING!! (This follows me being trainerless since Siem Reap!)

Walking up to the shopping centre is literally a nightmare. Like everywhere else we've been to in Asia, the pavements are not for pedestrians... They are car parks/ scooter parks, an external display area for shops, restaurants (squatting on tiny plastic chairs) and everything except pedestrians. I can only assume this is because nobody really walks anywhere! Everyone has a scooter and uses that to get everywhere, if fact people look at you like you are mental if you say we're walking. There is no where for pedestrians, you end up walking in the road and the bikes aren't very accommodating with this!

What's nice though is the lack of the question 'Tuk Tuk?' Every 2 minutes. They only seem to have cyclos (bikes with a human basket on the front), über motorcycles and crab cabs.

Whilst walking up, there are several roads to cross which I've realised you just have to sort of walk out and generally everything will probably be ok and people will sometimes try and miss you.... I think. It's been working so far, since my initial strategy of waiting for a gap in the traffic (seems completely ridiculous now) didn't pay off, nor did the wait for the traffic lights, nor be confident and walk fast.... All fails. The 'sort of mosey' technique is the best so far. Touch wood.

When you do get a bit of pavement, you don't get it for long, as many of the motorbikes start using that to avoid traffic lights or a marginally slower moped. I was daydreaming and looking at some festivally music thing and forgot this at one point and literally nearly got mowed at a particularly narrow area of pavement!

Whits re-asserted I find my way to the disappointing shopping centre which is a bit like a 5th of the trafford centre which is called the Vietnam shopping capital.

It's so expensive, exactly the same price at home of not a bit more. Which is a bit crazy considering all the sweat shops are out here. Even in the outlets the trainers are the same price which seems mental to me.... Hence coming for a bit of premium air con time Noblet free.

It really is hard to see the whole communism thing in HCMC. This whole place so far has been basically the most capitalist thing I've ever seen. Like there are so few rules businesses can do what they like. Puppies and animals are kept in tiny cages, in one place a 6month old Rottweiler in a cage 6inches longer than him and the same height 😢, businesses burning rubbish if disposing of it at all, loads of western businesses in the posher areas. I'd go so far as to say the closest we've come to communism here is the hammer and sickle flags on every other lamppost.

I did some reading and a lot of the top companies are still owned by the state which apparently haemorrhage cash such as coal, cement, obviously agriculture.

Agriculture is the main place where if people meet a quota for instance of rice, then they get paid from the government.

I'm thinking that if the UK could go a little bit more to the left in terms of ....

Brainstorming

At the minute we're a lot like it's ok to only put shareholders first and nothing else really matters. This can lead to short termism like what happened with BHS... Because no one is focused on longevity or a sustainable business model as soon as they have shareholders. It's about having a good annual report and maybe up to 5 years in the future but not much more. Companies literally put in their publicly available reports, shamelessly, that their aim is to maximise profits for shareholders, and that's ok. And this is how everyone judges success, by how happy shareholders are.

Noblet told me an example of a guy who was brought in on a 6 month contract as an MD. In that 6 month period he cut everything out of the business and reported that the business was now making x amount more profit since he had been in charge. He then leaves the business and puts on his CV this is what he can do in short periods of time. The business spends 3/4 years putting itself back together again.

Surely if we put a little more into making balanced businesses, with profitability still at the top but with more focus on

Sustainability of the business
How are the pensions doing
Input back into the community
More effort to help the environment
Ensuring there are no skills gaps in ten years
Longevity and quality of product
Using local products/ materials
Responsible taxation (REDUCE)
H&S (non of out here)

These things are all covered generally these days (I happen to think construction is one of the better industries for this!) but like, not really taken seriously its just written about a bit, but when making business decisions cash is still king.

I reckon just a little more input from the government we could have it all boxed off! I cannot really think of many countries doing it much better than us.

Just looking at construction schemes which make us better at most of the above include

Considerate constructors
BREEAM
Building control
Planning
Frameworks which request minimum standards in relation to the above

But in essence capitalism & communism are both too extreme for me.

Reckon the world needs to do what we do but 5/10 more to the left! But not the left that only looks after the poor.... The left that looks after the world.

Anyway I get my new trainers.... Won't say how much incase Noblet sees but they are fit!

Then on the way home I stop into a chemist and think I'll try and sort Noblet out. Did I mention they don't speak English in this city? Well that's no exception in the pharmacy. Can you imagine my sign language trying to describe dioreah .... Many large hand gestures with squatting etc.... 3 mins later we're not getting anywhere. Then the chemist had the bright idea of google translate. Great. Oh crap, how do you spell 💩?

I tried and eventually we got there. She handed me the pills from under the counter.... Immodium.... Fucking Imodium are you kidding I could have just asked! The whole shop has gobbledegook medicines with herbs and stuff and she gives me Imodium. Suppose we got there in the end.... I'll bare in mind in future just to say a brand 🙈🙈🙈 *note to self add Imodium Gam On to phrase dictionary!

Whilst walking home I visited a 'iconic cathedral' which was basically the same as the Catholic Church in weaverham! Disappointing!

Donkey: Noblet still being ill bored hurry up and get fixed!Read more