Day 3 Reflection - Davina

Picture 1 : A entrance to a part of Cu Chi tunnel

Picture 2 : A model of Cu Chi tunnel

Picture 3: The front view of Cao Dai Temple

Picture 4 : The side walkway of Cao Dai Temple

Picture 5: A trap which was used during the Vietnam war, made of bamboo

- Cao Dai Temple is a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.
Red symbolizes Confucianism ; Blue symbolizes Taoism ; Yellow symbolizes Buddhism.
The left eye is a symbol for this religion as the left eye is the closest to the heart.

- Chu Chi Tunnel is self sustaining , having meeting rooms, hospitals, dinning area even
a kitchen which is connected to a filter system so that the smoke that was created during
the process of cooking could not be seen by the enemy.

- Chu Chi Tunnel was built during the war time it aided the vietnamese who were less technologically advance to fight against the americans. Certain parts of the tunnel were crafted so small that only the small sized vietnamese could pass through.

Day 3: Reflections – Stacey Yip

Cao Dai Temple

This temple has an integration of 3 different religions: Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The colours red, yellow and blue represents the religion respectively. The purpose of this fusion of different religions is to allow them to live in peace and harmony. The god in Caodaism is symbolized by the left eye. This was because the left eye is closer to the heart. On the ceiling, there were some pictures of 4 supernatural animals. The dragon represents power (of the King), phoenix represents beauty, unicorn represents prosperity and the turtle represents longevity. Catholic was also incorporated as there was a hierarchical system present in the temple. The temple had 9 steps where their God is at the highest rank. During prayers, caodaist would sit accordingly to their rank. The stars on the globe and on the ceiling represents the universe.

Chu Chi Tunnel

The southern Vietnamese men protected themselves using the traps they used to hunt animals to “trap” the invaders moreover they built themselves a complex network of tunnels. The soldiers were generally small in size and was able to hid in the tunnels they dug for themselves in times of need with clean air entering the tunnel through a hole on the surface. The tunnels were built using simple equipments: a hoe and a weaved basket. They used the Saigon River as an escape route and as a water source. People that were not fighting in the war helped find bomb shells and remake it into their own weaponry.

My experience during the short trip inside the tunnel was a memorable one. The enclosed walls made it very warm and uncomfortable. Movement was limited and cramp. I had this feeling of when the tunnel would end and we would finally be able to leave this dark place and see the light, I never thought that I would miss the light that much.

Day 3 Reflections – Niklaus Teo

Three things i learnt today:

Cao Dai Temple's front entrance with 2 parallel towers

  Today we visited the cao dai temple which is located in Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam. The journey took about 3 hour from the city center of Saigon. The first thing that i observed was the parallel twin towers of the temple with a shorter center tower. This design reflects the eastern design features to have 2 parallel towers with a shorter center tower. I also observed that during the prayer and through the architecture that they incorporate different elements from many types of religions like Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism and many more. It seems as if they are trying to produce an ideal fusion of world religions with the incorporation of so many elements from different religions. 

The items used for creating the 200km of Cu Chi Tunnel

  Next we went to the Cu Chi Tunnel which consists of 200km of underground tunnels. What interest me was the in genius methods the Vietnam guerrillas did to over come the mighty USA troops. They knew they had a lack of resources, but they managed to create such an endeavor like the Cu Chi Tunnel that not only managed to give the Vietnam guerrillas shelter from live fire, bombs or poison, but also the ability to prevent the take over of the area due to the fact that the USA troops cannot penetrate their living area. This type of engineering inspires me to think of how to solve a problem with limited resources. If the Vietnam guerrillas just decided to live in the open forest to fight the USA Troops, they would not have succeed. Also how to make use of your strengths to fight your opponents’ weakness. 

The entrance hole of Cu Chi Tunnel disguised

One of the entrance hole of Cu Chi Tunnel

A picture of the uneven road along the out skirts of the Ho Chi Min 

  The last thing that I learnt today was the development of the road system in Ho Chi Min. Along the way back to the center district of Ho Chi Min City, it was raining moderately and after a short period 15 minutes, there were evidence of mild flooding in a few areas, which indicates poor drainage system around the city. There were also many uneven ground along the side of the road which collects stagnant water. This could allow the breeding of insects which will affect the living conditions of the people around the out skirts of Ho Chi Min City. Overall the road development is considered to be not well maintained due to the bad conditions of the road and drainage system. As such it also shows the importance of maintenance of property in the country. For example the Singapore Government employs workers to cut the trees along the road side to prevent unnecessary traffic disruption along its road and the roads are surfaced often or whenever there are reports of the road condition degrading  

Day 3 Reflections - Tam Wai Hang

Three things I have learnt today:

1) Vietnam is a multi-religious country, and this can be shown as the Cao Dai Temple being built to accommodate the praying needs of different religions found all over Vietnam.

2) The means of architecture does not necessary have to be towards the exterior beauty of the structure, but towards the efficiency of the structure. This can be displayed by the building of the Chu Chi tunnel, where a complex web structure is built for the Vietnamese soldiers, and is self sustaining. There is not much emphasis on the exterior design of the tunnel, as it is meant to be hidden from the enemy units.

3) Vietnam still possesses the traditional way of agricultural means, by farming as well as rearing of animals such as cows and chickens. This shows that there is still a gap between the developed state and its current state, showing that there is still areas for Vietnam to develop on.

Pictures:
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Day 3 Reflections (May 24) — Hao Yang, Benz, Hao En & Jurvis

Photo 1:
Air holes for breathing underground.

Photo 2:
Booby trap made out of bamboo.

Photo 3:
Temple sides has arches similar to the ones at the Islamic Mosque.

Photo 4:
The Cao Dai Temple, the architecture has a symmetry.

What have we learnt:

1 The fusion of the Eastern and Western cultures and religion in Cao Dai Temple can be seen through the arrangement of structures and the decorative. Examples of the arrangement of structures adapted from the West are the symmetrical arrangement of the 28 pillars, the balconies, the front structures and the tall figure (much like Notre Dame Cathedral), and the arches (Islamic Mosque). Examples of the decorative adapted from the West includes the ceiling painted with clouds and stars. Those adapted from the East includes the supernatural animals, as well as the colours used (yellow, blue, red). They believe that the Left Eye is closer to the heart which signifies the Yang, seeing everything that people do.

2 The complexity of the Cu Chi tunnels, booby traps and how the Liberation Army (Viet Cong) used guerrilla warfare to defeat the Americans. The traps were carved by bamboo sticks for spikes, they had air holes coming out of the ground to breathe and smoke vents. There was also an underground well where the Vietnamese soldiers could get clean water, as Americans polluted the water. The tunnels are unusually small; only the size of a Vietnamese back then could get through. The entrances, landmines and bunks are very well-covered with twigs and dead leaves, leaving the Americans extremely susceptible to the Vietnamese and have no knowledge in Guerrilla Warfare. This shows that the Vietnamese were very intelligent and had great team spirit and morale to get America's remnants of bomb shells and create their own weapons.

3 The Cao Dai Temple, although seems well-planned and intricate, has no master plans made before the building was constructed. It was constructed without architects or professionals, but rather local farmers. Hence it took 5 years to construct. After the building was done up, the government requested for its master planning, which then the people started to take measurements of the building and put it back into "planning stage". Our group observed that there were a lot of sand and the prayers wore a white costume.

24th May Reflections: TanZhiYong

1. I learnt that in the Cao Dai Temple, the four main animals are displayed in the design of the temple. They are dragon, turtle, phoenix and the unicorn, which represent highest power, longevity, beauty and prosperity respectively. The interior and exterior display these four animals and other patterns too. The lights have the four animals too, and the pillar also have dragons on them.

2. I also learnt that Cao Dai is about 3 different religions, basically Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. These religions are symbolized from colours that are around the temple. Buddhism is red, Confucianism is red and Taoism is blue. The men are thought to be on the right hand, and women on the left. Similarly, Yin is for women and Yang for men.

3. Lastly, I learnt that the Vietnamese were very intelligent in planning the Cu Chi Tunnel. They were able to plan it in such a way that there was space for everyday life such as meeting rooms, hospitals, kitchens and dining room, which were all very organised into 3 levels.. They were also smart in making air holes which were so small but yet sufficient for the 200 over kilometers tunnels.

Day 3 Reflection - May 24

Here are three things that I have learnt from today's journey.

No.1) I've learnt that from the Cao Dai temple, there are four special animals specifically from the temple. They are Unicorn, Dragon, Turtle and Phoenix. These a

nimals sy

mbolize something unique. For example, the Unicorn symbolizes Prosperity, Dragon symbolizes Power,

Turtle symbolizes longevity and Phoenix symbolizes Beautiful (This is towards the ladies.)

No.2) Another thing that I've learnt is the culture at the temple. The culture tries to combine religions to form peace. These "Religions" are seen as three different colours. From my contextual knowledge, yellow shows Buddhism and the other two which are Confucianism and Taoism could be either red or blue. After research, Confucianism is red and Taoism is blue. At the same time, a part of their culture is that men stands at the left hand while wom

en stands at the right hand. This can be seen in the photo below. The picture shows the people praying to the god, Yin which is the left eye that shows light to the people.

No.3) Last but not least, the last thing that I've learnt from today's journey at the Cu Chi Temple is how smart they built they're tunnel. Their tunnel is underground and away from the surface. The tunnel is where they live after their village was dest

royed by the bomb from the planes. Their way of surviving underground is by having many air holes that can be found at almost every 20 meters away. They also had a well built underground. They turned the smoke released underground into mist so that they would not be easily spotted by the enemies when the "smoke" gets released into the surface. An example is shown in the picture below.

By Tay Kun Yao