Today’s journey started of with some breakfast. Which I would say was better than the first day. After everyone got some food in their system we hit the road with some grab taxis, headed to the HCMUT university.
When we arrived, the outside of the university was not so exciting, however the room we were hosted in looked like UN conference room with some comfortable chairs and mics infront of each one. The university surprised us with a company named Ajinomoto. First, a university professor spoke about her background and about corporate finance and how there are many investors ready to invest if local companies were to be transparent about their actions and about sustainability. Then came in the presentation of Ajinomoto. From what was shared they seem like leader of sustainability in Vietnam. One of the things I found impressive was that they purify and cure water to be reused.
After the presentations and some Q&As we got a tour around the university which was more like a lap around their football field.
Then we went to the uni’s cafeteria and got some lunch.
Now started the better half of the day. We took a grab to go to the Dutch consulate. Luck us, our driver was able to avoid traffic and get us their on time, unlike Mr. Travel’s cab driver, which arrived almost 30 minutes later. We got a warm welcome from Daniel and him telling us about how the consulate is also his home, which we found quite nice. It was definitely my first time seeing a pool in a consulate. Also how they use it as a networking experience. Then we got to meet Mimi one of the most interesting people I’ve met. She worked with many NGOs and has felt with a lot of sensitive matters like worker and human rights. She gave us a presentation about her life experiences and how that is tied to sustainability.
After that we had a break where they gave us some very tasty fruit while having some open discussion with everyone there. Seeing a table tennis there intrigued some us in to playing and just as the day was coming to an end Daniel suggested we have a tournament, but unfortunately to us we had to leave. Right before leaving Daniel showed us the river and the yacht we invited ourselves into, right infront of the consulate.
To end the day we went to a tower next to the Walmart burj khalifa one. Bjorn joined our fun cab and got the chance of playing 2010 bangers. We had a panoramic view of the sunset and it was a soothing experience.
That’s it for today see you in the next journal