Daphne Brozyna, Plus3 Business Vietnam, Summer 2026
One of the first things that surprised me was how different daily transportation was. Vietnam has about 7 million motorbikes in a country of around 14 million people, and very few people use cars because of a 300 percent tax on them. Watching the roads was completely different from anything I am used to seeing in the United States. There were motorbikes everywhere, and somehow they all moved around each other without the system being complete chaos.
I was also surprised by the contrast between different levels of wealth. On the drive to Cu Chi, I saw one extremely nice house directly next to a very poor one. The differences were so obvious, and I realized that America is much more separated based on economic class. Typically, a wealthy American neighborhood is away from impoverished ones. The Vietnamese residential areas were a mix of wealth all throughout the spectrum.
I also knew some of the Vietnam War history coming into Vietnam, but any previous knowledge did not do justice to the experience of walking around the museum and Cu Chi tunnels. On the bus ride to the tunnels, our guide, Tuan, explained that around 3 million Vietnamese people died during the war, compared to around 56,000 Americans. There have been no wars fought on
United States soil since the Civil War, and until I actually left, it was much easier to take for granted how privileged it is to not have to worry about war in your own backyard.
The work culture on our site visits also surprised me. At several companies, especially Dan On Foods and Glass Egg, I saw an incredible amount of investment in employees. Dan On provided women with free hair and nail spa services, along with a gym, pool, river, golfing green, pool table, and grand piano. Glass Egg also put an incredible amount of effort into training employees and supporting them until they reached the standard expected of them. In America,
employee turnover is high in many places. It was interesting to see the contrast in a country that treats maintaining employees as an investment.
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