DAY 06-Casandra Ong

Entrance of CO.OP Mart

Outside of CO.OP Mart

After the visit to both supermarkets, Lotte Mart and Co.op Mart, I have made some observations and comparisons. Lotte Mart is a foreign company, owned by Koreans, whereas Co.op Mart is a local supermarket. The differences of the companies range from their products to the building of the supermarkets. The products sold in Lotte Mart cost more than the ones sold in Co.op Mart. I have also observed the choice of escalators and travellators used in each supermarket. In Co.op Mart, escalators are used to travel from one level to another, whereas in Lotte Mart, travellators are used instead. This shows that the locals who buy less would shop at Co.op Mart, hence they do not need travellators for the trolleys. On the other hand, the rich who buy more and need the trolley will shop at Lotte Mart, thus have travellators.

I observed that the advertising methods in Vietnam compared to in Singapore is slightly different. Advertisements are commonly on buildings and huge billboards in Vientam. Most of the advertisements in Vietnam are enlarged to attract the attention of the public. Unlike Singapore, they seldom have advertisements on buses.

The country’s development is dependent on and related to the development of retail markets, which is also one factor of the country’s economy. Hence, vice versa. As the country develops, its population would require more and there will be more demand for products. For example, as the country develops, there would be more families who because wealthier and would want to upgrade to cars instead of motorcycles. This will result in a demand for cars, which increases the the sales of automobiles. Construction of road will be necessary, creating more jobs.

DAY 05-Casandra Ong

Model of City Plan

Kimberly-Clark Vietnam @ VSIP

VSIP

I have learnt that it is important to take in consideration the convenience and safety of the people that utilize the facilities. It is not only important to invest in the main facilities but to also invest in other factors that will affect the efficiency and productivity of the facilities. A good example will be the new road that Singapore invested in to enable a smooth and safe journey for the heavy vehicles that travel everyday back and forth from VSIP. The new road replaces the rocky and disoriented ‘road’ in the past, which created danger and inconvenience to the drivers. By investing in the new road, it will bring ease to transporting the products made in VSIP to other places for business. This will increase the productivity of VSIP.

It is essential to have ‘breathing-space’ in a city. This promotes living and not just business in a city. It attracts people to stay in the city for long term as it promotes suitable lifestyle for living and not just a hectic business city. Land is reserved to build breathing-spaces, such as parks and water bodies for outdoor activities. These breathing-spaces serves as a get-away for the people from their busy lives.

It is important for countries to have close relationships with other countries as it will benefit both parties. An example would be the founding of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park. A country such as Singapore does not have sufficient land and manpower to manufacture products, as land is high-on-demand and manpower is expensive. Therefore, it is ideal to locate a local (Singapore) industrial park in another country, where land and manpower is cheaper. This is where the importance of close relationships with other countries come in. Good relationships with the country will allow Singapore to easily obtain permission to set up her business overseas. In the case of VSIP, Singapore has good relationship with Vietnam, therefore, Singapore is able to set up an industrial park in Vietnam. The setting up of the industrial park does not only benefit Singapore, but also Vietnam as the industrial park will create more jobs for the people of Vietnam.

DAY 04 - Casandra, Carisa, Jaime, PeiShan

Visit to Mr Long's Place

Ferry Ride- Home of a Family

Ferry Ride - Local boat, which was home to some

Can Gio Biosphere- Plants living the desert-environment

Can Gio Biosphere- Before Planting of the Seedlings

What we have learnt about Can Gio Biosphere?
The forest occupies up to 1/3 of Ho Chi Minh, 34 000Ha, and is located at the south. The forests experiences two seasons, the dry season from December to April, and the rainy season form May to October every year. The area has an average temperature of 27 degrees celsius, highest temperature of 33 degree celsius and lowest temperature of 22 degree celsius.

The mangrove forest was used as a military base during the Vietnam war. During the war, the Americans polluted the river along the forest with more than 4 million litres of herbicides to get rid of the Vietnam soldiers there. The forest was destroyed by the war.

After the Vietnam war, the government decided to recover the destroyed forest and to conserve it. In order to recover the forest, the local people had to buy mangrove trees from other provinces. Many of the local people participated and contributed in the recovery of the forest. It took them more than 10 days to transport the mangrove that they bought from the other provinces by boat. Even though they were able to get mangrove from other provinces, they lost half of the mangrove forests that they bought, due to the pests which infested those trees. When the trees grew, the people removed the small and weak trees to prevent overcrowding, for the benefit of the bigger and stronger ones.

After 1997, the government banned trespassers from damaging the forest. People were not allowed to affect the natural growth of the forest. The government then decided to split the forest into 24 parts for easy maintenance. Some parts of the forest were out of bounds, some were used for scientific research and residential purposes. Many household and agencies volunteered to take care of a plot of land of the forest. Local authorities subsidize a sum of money for the household to maintain a certain plot of land of the forest. Household who are maintaining the forest are suppose to protect the forest. They cannot allow trespassers to damage the forest by chopping down the trees. The household will be fined if they were to allow trespassers to chop the trees. If the household allow that to happen more than 2 times, the local authorities will consider to dismiss them.

What are the living conditions and lifestyle of Mr Long, who maintains a plot of the mangrove forest?
The household who maintain the forest live a simple lifestyle. Mr Long built a simple house for his family 10 years ago, out of wood. He uses wood to make the simple furniture in the house. In addition, Mr Long has the television as an entertainment and window to the outside world. We have observed that most of the furniture in his home is old and some are not in proper working order. In order to have clothes or have items of cloth material, Mr Long has a manual-sewing machine for them to make daily necessities such as clothes. In order to save money on water, we observed that the women in the house wash their dishes in a basin of water. This method enables them to reuse the water.

We also observed that some parts of Mr Long’s was an added to the house after the house was actually built. We infer that these add-ons are to improve the house, in terms of strengthening its structure, ensure security and beautifying the place. These improvements are such as the approximately two feet tall gate at the entrance of the house to keep their children inside the house for their safety. These add-ons are mostly recycled from another product.

Mr Long’s income is not very high. Fortunately, as his income is only sufficient to support his family and only have some savings, they do not have to pay taxes. Mr Long makes a living out of his shrimp farm and by taking care of a plot of mangrove forest. He will collect his harvest of shrimps and sell them to the markets in the city. On the other hand, the local authorities pay him for taking care of the plot of land and subsidies the family with electricity by providing solar panels. The local authorities also promise to build them a better home in future. Mr Long has the telephone and mobile phone, but cannot afford to use them on a regular basis due to his low income. He only uses them in emergencies to communicate the city.

On a daily basis, Mr Long has to sent his children to the city to attend school and for business. He stays far away from the city and hence, have to spent 1,000 dong on petrol to travel from home to the city.

What have we learnt?
From our visit to Can Gio Biosphere, we are glad that Vietnam is contributing to keeping the Earth green and clean by putting in effort, time and money to recover and conserve the mangrove forest which they lost during the Vietnam war. This trip taught us that recovering a forest is difficult. It was not easy to plant the seedling of the mangrove trees.
We have also learnt that we have to appreciate the fortunate blessings that we receive in our lives, because there are children like us out there who are not as fortunate as we are.

DAY 03-Group C: Casandra, Carisa, Jaime, PeiShan

Cu Chi Tunnel
Cao Dai Tunnel

Cao Dai Temple:

Caodaism:
Taoism
Confucianism
Buddhism
Catholic
Islam

When did Caodaism start?
It started at 1926.

How did it come around?
The people wanted peace between different religions in Vietnam. Therefore combined the religions. The Cao Dai temple in the Tay Minh is a combination of Western and Eastern designs. The Cao Dai temple has two symmetrical towels, influenced by the Notre-Dame Basilica. Even so, the temple is decorated with designs influenced by Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, such as dragons and the colours, red, blue and yellow.

Practices of Caodaism
Follower have to pray 4 times a day.
At prayers, followers have to wear a white outfit, with long sleeves.
During the prayers. the followers seat in the same posture as the Islam followers.
There is hiearchy within the temple. Within

Cu Chi Tunnel:

The vietnamese made booby traps and stole the americans’s bombs and reused them.
The tunnel is 200 km long.
The tunnel has been re-sized to fit the tourists
The tunnel has 3 levels; first level is 2 to 3 metres deep, second level is 5 to 6 metres and the third level is 9 to 10 metres deep.

What were the resource that were used during the war for survival?
They used simple tools such as a bamboo basket and spade to dig the the system of tunnels. They also used simple materials for the traps that they set, such as bamboo, dried leaves and spikes. As for their footwear, they recycle tires to make slippers out of them. They use the rubber from the tires as they are durable and can be removed from the spikes of the traps easily and when the belts of the slipper breaks, they can be replaced.

Why did they built the Cu Chi tunnel?
The people in Cu Chi needed shelter from their enemies, the Americans. Unable to stay above ground, they built the system of tunnels underground to hide from the enemies. They hide underground in the day or go into battle with the enemies and come out at night to set the traps to prepare for battle on the next day.

What have we learnt from the features of the Cu Chi Tunnel?
The Cu Chi Tunnel is a well, planned, complicated system of tunnels.
strong structure
The Cu Chi tunnel was a smart tactic for war

Day 02-Reflections

3 things that I have learnt today (DAY02)

1. I have learnt how the people who have occupied Vietnam in Vietnam’s history have influenced Vietnam in many aspects. For example, the infrastructure of the Catholic church, Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, built in the 1820s was greatly influenced by the French people who occupied Ho Chi Minh at that time. This church was dramatically decorated, had detailed designs, and arches, curves and shapes were also used to the express.

2. It takes a long period of time to build a new city. During the period of time, one of the first things that must happen is to built modern infrastructure. After a few years when the buildings are completed, people will move into the place and businesses will start to stabilize the finance. From there, the city will continue to grow.

3. Modern infrastructure is important to the enable the city to grow. The modern infrastructure will attract businesses and immigrants. The city will have to rent out the modern infrastructure, apartments and shops, to improve the economy. From there, businesses will start, attracting investors and customers. As the city grows, there will be a need for more facilities, such as shopping malls and schools, creating more jobs which will also attract more people.