Today we went to the Independence Palace and a company visit at Saigon Newport Corporation (SNP). We also had lunch at a restaurant on the top floor of a hotel and got a great view of the city while we ate.
The Independence Palace was home to the president of South Vietnam before the country was unified after the war. It was interesting to compare this to the White House in America and see the differences. There were three wings and many different rooms such as an underground bunker with a room to control the military and the president’s residence. The current building is much newer than the White House and was constructed in the 1960s after the old building was torn down. The palace is actually called the reunification palace now because Vietnam is now one unified country. The building holds a lot of historical value and was the site of many important Vietnamese events such as war discussions and presidential meetings.
The Saigon Newport Corporation is a logistics company that manages many ship ports and transportation networks. We visited the Cat Lai terminal today, which is a very important and busy port that supplies much of South Vietnam. There are many different goods that are imported and exported from the port such as rice, electronics, and furniture. When we drove in the gates in the front it surprised me how much traffic there was and how hectic the environment is. Our presenter told us how the roads are going to be widened soon and that the port is reaching its capacity. With the high growth of the Vietnamese economy and increased trade, the number of ports has grown a lot in the past 20 years and will continue to grow. This specific port is actually owned by the navy and SNP works closely with the government to move all of the ships in and out. SNP has a good relationship with the government and coordinates on many things like customs and trade regulations. This was a very interesting company visit and it was good to see how all of the goods we use move around the world.
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