This morning, the mood was a bit grumpier than usual. While we were bound to visit some interesting companies, Damen Shipyards and Royal van der Leun, there was a 2.5-hour bus ride ahead of us. However, we were used to the long rides by now so with good courage we went onto the bus. Unfortunately, the realization hit us that the bus driver wasn’t as skilled as the previous ones as the intended 10 min break turned into a 25 min break, which led to some frustration by the committee (read: Twan).
We were welcomed by Joris van Tienen and after some ICT issues, he gave us an interactive presentation in which we could share our thoughts about the sustainable goal that Damen had set for itself, including some interesting questions for our research. Next to that, we were allowed to make pictures of the shipyard which was a nice change of direction given the fact that this was not allowed at the other companies. We were served some of the best lunch we have had so far in the study tour, and we were having some interesting conversations with the employees that joined us. To finish the visit, mr. Goody Man handed over his goody bag with stroopwafels, pepermunt and other Dutch specialties. Hereby, we could see the difference between the Vietnamese and Dutch culture, as the Vietnamese open the present in private, while the Dutch manager opened it in front of the students, saying “ah nice, I don’t think I have ever eaten more stroopwafels than in Vietnam…”. It felt like I was back in the Netherlands for 2 seconds.
After the lunch, we drove 5 minutes to Royal van der Leun. This company specializes in producing maritime components and systems, therefore being neatly linked to Damen. While we were hoping to learn something about the sustainable practices of this company, the representative mainly focused on the DBAV (Dutch Business Association Vietnam), which was not as useful for our research but nevertheless interesting. After the presentation, we were given a tour through the assembly area. After approaching some (2) stairs, all the girls suddenly became tired and decided to stay downstairs, incredibly rude when being a guest at a foreign company!
However, everyone was feeling tired after these visits so when leaving the company at 16.00, we were hoping to reach the hotel by 18.00, but not everyone got this memo. Remember the not so skilled bus driver that was mentioned earlier in this post? Yeah, the bus driver thought it was a good idea to decide for himself where our hotel was located so he drove the complete opposite way from where we were supposed to go. Unlucky for us, Mr Travel felt a bit sick today, so he was laying in his bed at the hotel. Mr Goody Man was supposed to fulfill his role, but he decided to plug in some earbuds and ignore everything that happened around him. Therefore, we drove for 30 minutes in the wrong direction, then 30 minutes back to the correct road which meant that the 2 hours changed to 3 hours. After the unavoidable traffic jams and a long break, the total bus ride equaled 4 hours. After the tensions rose between Ms. Tik and Mr. Goody Man (wel opschieten he!!!!!), we decided it was time for everyone to grab some dinner.
When getting seated at the restaurant, all the frustration of the bus ride was right behind us when we were given something that was heaven send; a 3-liter beer tower for 12 euros. The beervogel was really pleased and this was the happiest I have seen him the whole trip. After dinner, we went to the train station to see some of the last trains of the day pass by while taking some videos. After the last train passed, we played some Swedish bullying when Sina thought it was a good idea to watch the video she took of the train while blasting it at full volume, resulting in some PTSD reaction of the café owner who thought there was an incoming train that would run the whole place over.
After some beers, most students returned to the hotel and Peer, Tijn, Sina and I wanted to make something of our last night in Vietnam, so we decided to go out and explore the area which you will read in the next blog!