Field Research in Hanosimex & Yamaha

Before walking into the factories, I had no idea what I would but the only images I have to refer back to is the ones I have read in textbooks and documentary videos of the industrial revolutions. Needless to say, I was filled with mixed emotions at what I experienced during our tour in Hanosimex and Yamaha factories.  We enter into the conference filled with chairs and tables with red table covers which makes everything so elegant at our first visit, Hanosimex. After a rather informative overview session about the company, the tour began with us walking through the textile area where we saw the procedures of raw materials processed into threads by machineries.  I notice there were not much workers and everyone weren’t in any specific uniform making it seem as though, the company does not enforce very strict dress code in the work place. People were dispersed all around the machines collecting and pushing giant bins of threads and roll of cottons.  There were a good amount of men working in the factory as well as women, all of which had a face mask to cover their nose and mouth. The environment in the factory was quite dusty and I felt small particles of cotton and thread dispenses in mid-air causing some difficulty for me to breathe normally.  It was stuffy although the ceilings were high and it was not crowded with people, but only with machines from left to right. My initial thoughts were “Wow… machines may just as well replace human labor!”  In my head I can imagine the new world order of machine replacing people at work and everything computerized! However as we move onto the next building where people sits in rows with sewing machines in front of them sewing pieces of shirts together. I was stunned… why? Perhaps in my head, this image is what I fear because it reminds me of sweat shops I’ve seen in documentary videos and truth be told, it did not hit me so hard until I witnessed it with my own eyes. It was as though, sweat shops becomes a legal in some weird twisted dimension.  Of course, the conditions with better lighting, music playing in the background, air condition, and other benefits; nevertheless, it is what it is… a legally upgraded textile sweatshop in Vietnam.  Excuse me, if I perceive the situation way too negatively than it really is but environments causes me to retrieve everything I have learned and read into perspective.  I felt a bit intrusive to be exact when we all just walked in the workers’ working area observing them as though we were of higher position looking down upon them. If not, it may be a feeling of pity or discomfort as a few of us were taking snapshots of the worker sewing away on their table… my emotions were definitely mixed of discomfort as though I am intruding into their space where I am not in their positions and staying objective to my surroundings. 

It was mostly women workers who were sewing pieces of clothing and men where ironing and airing out threads left on the shirts.  Interesting enough, the shirts that these workers were working on are export products for EXPRESS and MANGO. It was a mind game staring at the same shirts I would have picked up in the EXPRESS store in the United States but it is manufactured in Vietnam.  It really makes me hesitate to purchase any more clothes from EXPRESS after seeing a black polo shirt for men in the factory.  This is not concern about the quality of the clothes but it is the principle behind selling a shirt that only cost a couple dollars to make and pricing it at a ridiculous high price, where it does not go towards paying the people who made it but goes to the business profit.  It is rather a shameful act of exploiting cheap labor abroad to make profitable goods.  On a brighter note, workers at Hanosimex receive a paycheck of 200USD per month (which is better than the pay in Yamaha factories, 100 USD/month) and receive healthcare benefits (cosmetic and optometry excluded). 

In comparison to Yamaha factory, Hanosimex appear to be a bit more flexible with its workers because Hanosimex actually have dormitories where workers can rent a place to live next to work and less restrictions on its employees.  Yamaha factory’s appearance was impressive because it is a newer building with super clean and white floors and walls.  It was more spacious and air conditioned the entire work building.  The structure of Yamaha was rather strict and very systematic with huge assembly line of motorbike parts.  We were not allowed to take pictures within the factory which says a lot and had to wear their Yamaha hats while we were on the tour.  All employees were wearing uniforms in the Yamaha factory on the contrary to Hanosimex.  In the factory, there were boards which tells people who messed up on their parts along with a picture of the worker on the board.  I thought it was a bit demeaning and unnecessary for its employer to do so.  Another thing is that they have a digital board where it tells employees their target goal and what they actually produced, which I supposed is for motivational purposes.  What I don’t understand is that Yamaha makes so much money from manufacturing motorbikes in Vietnam yet it pays its employee so poorly in comparison to the textile factory.  It appeared to be a very toxic and dangerous working environment with large machinery and chemical fumes from the motorbikes.  There was definitely a gender difference in the workplace because there were definitely more men working on the assembly line than women.  Set aside the more critical part of analyzing the factory environment, it was pretty neat to see the motorbike parts put together and the perfection of each shiny piece goes into making a wholesome bike.  The end product is amazing and beautiful!  I really enjoy the overall experience of how motorbikes are put together in a giant assembly line.  What differentiate hugely in Yamaha’s work environment is it has a feeling of being ONE all together because it is an assembly line.  If one part of the line slow down, then the entire line slows down because of it, therefore it produces a more collaborative unit as a whole rather than individual work.  

SAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

After traveling roughly 8 hours on the train, we reached our destination – Lao Cai, where it rain all day.  I couldn’t believe how cold Vietnam can get and how cold the rain was in Sapa in comparison to Ha Noi.  The winding roads up and around the mountains in the rain was not very pleasant because every turn the driver makes, I can only imagine one wrong turn and off the cliff we go… but we made it to Sapatown in an hour! We quickly settled in our cozy Pinocchio hotel and we off to eat brunch then head to the “Dragon’s Claw”!  The view and scenery during our hike up the cliff was magnificent! The air was cold and with a light sprinkling rain, nature has never been so beautiful!  As we climb stone staircase higher and higher, the views from above looking down to the town was pretty cool!  Plants and flowers filled the surroundings with natural rocks surrounding them.  It made me feel peaceful and calm walking around the Dragon’s Claw.  The fog that lingers around us made it feel mystical and surreal to witness such beauty.  However, these views were nothing in comparison to the trekking experience to Ban Ho the following day. 

Mud. No pave road.  Grassy. Slippery. Rocks. Bamboos.  SCENIC!  We left for our trekking excursion at 8am with our two Hmong tour guides. Trekking through the mountainous path was a scary and heart-pounding experience that I have never experience in my life.  There were no path on which we can follow except small dirt trails created by Hmong people and other travelers who trek through the mountains.  It was a battle climbing uphill and a bigger challenging going downhill because it was very muddy and the dirt were extremely moist which creates unstable grounds for us to walk by.  I’m pretty sure I killed a good amount of plants while I was trekking because I was holding on to the nearby plants for some support just in case I may slip and plunder down to my death. Of course, I survive but in those moments, I felt as though one wrong step I make will result in severe consequences. Hence, my follow EAPers and I were quite alert walking along the trail.  One thing I notice while we were trekking was the friendly Hmong girls and women from the villages follow us and helped us walk through the difficult trail.  A young girl named Muoi –if I spelled it right, helped me walk through some really dangerous path and she made trekking seem so easy!  I was quite impressed by her graceful balance walking between narrow space and her eagerness to help us like the rest of Hmong girls.

Although trekking was quite scary for all of us and many of us ATE it hard with the ground, it was so scenic and beautiful! I think it was the most beautiful and untouched place in Vietnam I’ve visited yet! It’s definitely breathtaking! There are many small water streams running down and around the mountains that we encounter with to rinse our dirty feet. After 6 or so hours of trekking we arrived at our home stay at the Chu Xin.  It was a pretty nice place where giant mattress and mosquitoes nets laid ready for us… I was expecting to stay similarly to our visit to the Bahnar village but it was more modern and spacious.  Our host was very kind and generous to us.  The food his wife and he prepared for us was tasty and we quickly devour it!  The night in the village was very peaceful without much light lit in the village or motorbike noises. It made me think about how Ha Noi has changed from a village into such a huge city filled with cars and lights.  I wonder if Ha Noi was as pleasant and peaceful as the night in Ban Ho village years ago.  Does development contaminate the beauty of a simple life and peace?   I thoroughly enjoy our stay in the village where we aren’t distracted with finding a “night life” in bar or club.  We got to get out of normal city life routine and just enjoy each other company.  

1000 Years Hanoi Anniversary week

Last week was the 1000 years anniversary of Hanoi, it was always the week seems like the whole city is outside celebrating whether it is sitting outside drinking tea or walking around the streets to admire the decorative surroundings. Somehow everyone in the city was participating in some fashion to ensure this occasion to be memorable.  With the crowd, the city appeared livelier than ever and it was joyous event for the entire city experience.  However, the elaborate expenses on the city and ridiculous amount of money that the government spent on this occasion may be a bit excessive to say the minimum.  Although I recent heard the news about the flooding in central Vietnam due to the high level of rain fall, I also noticed that the government neglect to release press in the newspaper for the country to know.  This may wrong but perhaps they did not want people to lose the focus on this 1000 years anniversary celebration?  I find it outrageous that the people do not receive fast news about what’s going on around the country.  I question how effective any governing body works to help its own people. 

In a different light of things, while everyone was out and about the past weekend, I was not too fond with the idea of overcrowded places and being squish in between strangers. Thus, I did not eager participated much near Ho Hoang Kiem and enjoy the view from a distance.  Don’t get me wrong, Old Quarter was beautifully decorated and the lights make me quite attractive with so much buzz everywhere.  Is this potential the peak of development? One joyous lavish celebration? Who knows how much will change within the next couple years?  

Memorable experience harvesting RICE

Harvesting rice was definitely a new experience during my journey in Vietnam.  Treading through mud filled with little critters and other things I don’t even know, it was intimidated at first.  I did not realize how incredibly hard it was to walk through the muddy rice fields to harvest the rice until now.  Every step I took, it required an immense amount of effort to remove my foot from the knee deep mud.  I easily lose my balance when I try to shift directions.  Through this experience, I can’t imagine how difficult for farmers to harvest their crops in this traditional way and the amount of time it would take.  Luckily for us, we had a lot of man power to finish the job in an orderly and timely fashion.  Most of us were busy harvesting rice with a small machete like knife while others were transferring the piled up rice onto drier land to be transported to a designated area where all the rice stocks are stacked up and ready to be put through machine to take the rice from the stock.   It was very systematic which speed up the process; nevertheless it took us 2-3 hours to finish a small field of rice. 

The experience on the field harvesting rice was very challenging in the mud but I think our spirits were high and we were focus on the task at hand –harvesting the rice!  We conquered! The mud were very difficult to get off and we had to rinse ourselves in a river/lake which I was surprise.  I suppose it would waste too much water if 25+ people washed themselves in our host’s home.  I did not realize how scratched up I got from harvesting the rice until I return home and the next day I found innumerous cuts and tiny infected bug bites  all around my legs! How disgusting it looks but I have to take in perspective that farmers had to endure similar experience all the time.  I only wish I had thicker skin or less sensitive skin so my legs aren’t so inflamed with bites and cuts all over it. 

Set aside the post experience with harvesting rice, I would probably do it all over again because it was pretty awesome treading through the rice fields with my friends.  It was a memorable experience overall, especially talking with some village people about their lives and experience with ‘development’.   We talked with two women who are from Tuyen Quang, a mountainous village, but they moved into farming village to work.  They are perfect examples how ‘development’ forces or encourages people to migrate into area where they can find wage labor.  Through this process, it creates an ethnically mixed society filled with numerous cultural practices in one area.  Wage labor becomes more vital in these areas more than before because very few people actually work on their own fields.  They are more apt to hire cheap labor by other people.  An example would be the woman who lives next to A. Khoi’s home (our host) because she is the very few people in the village who actually still work on her land.  Her husband is a carpenter rather than simply a farmer.  More people are shifting away from farming and seek well-paid jobs in the city rather than the fields.   Therefore, there is tremendous change to non-farming activities in the village.  The woman has children who work as an engineer, hotel clerk, and government participant.    This is a good indicator that the farm life is no longer desire in the rural area and people quickly look into office type career path.   Based on people’s response in this area, it seemed as though there are a lot of people who are categorized as “poor” although there are few but not many. The farmers that I’ve encounter with appear very well-off with very nice polished home and have motorbikes.  I also see a good amount of automobiles driving in and out of the village.  Although it may seem rural, it is definitely changing into a more urban area or mini city waiting to more high building and construction to take over… In short, due to this idea of “bettering” one’s life and progressive, rural areas will soon or later become a city.