Day 6 Reflections (May 28) — Si Yuan, Stacey, Davina & Niklaus

Level 1 of An Dong retail market

Multistory Lotte Mart

Vietnamese modern retail outlet, Sieu Thi Co-opmart

EQ 1: Observing the changes in the 2 different retail outlets; traditional and modernized

After visiting 3 of the many malls in Vietnam,  a common amenity that can be found is a game centre. All 3 old and new malls has a game centre. The older malls has a game centre at the top most level of the mall but the newer malls have a game centre at the basement of the mall. This was something I found most interesting because I didn't expect Vietnam malls to have game centres, because of the perception that Vietnam has not been developed to the point at which they can spend on recreational activities. Basically, some of the differences that can be observed easily is the width of the aisle, the number of people in the malls, and the smell of it. The newer ones are wider than the older ones because of area constraints. If the old malls are to be expanded, prices will definitely have to rise and that the consumers will decrease, and because of that, a chain reaction will take place. The weird smell in the older malls are caused by the lack of air-condition. The main issue now is the in-balance of consumers between the different shopping malls. Finally, the last difference between the older malls and the newer ones was that the prices are a bit more flexible in the older malls and that they are cheaper too. Hence, I can conclude that there are definitely a difference between the different classes of shopping centres. 

EQ 2: The transitions of the retail outlets in HCMC from the traditional to the modern retail outlets

The Vietnamese government is improving the quality of life in Vietnam by providing more jobs, living spaces, schools, hospitals, services. Included in services are retail and entertainment—where the retail market comes in. The government demolishes or moves traditional retail outlets to make way for more modernized ones. The shopping malls have to meet the demand of the people’s higher quality of living and thus more modern retail outlets selling higher quality items are slowly springing up in many areas of Ho Chi Minh City. Some reasons why consumers may not go to traditional retail outlets could be the difficulty of organization. The disorganized and overcrowding of shops pose many problems such as the smaller aisles that are usually filled with bags, thus making movability around the shops harder and with the combination of flexible prices, it could create a lot of problems for the shoppers. 

EQ 3: How is the retail development in HCMC a reflection of the country's development

Modern retail outlets, as compared to traditional outlets, provides comfortable, enjoyable, quality and simple shopping inside a single shopping center. The trade off is higher the command of price that is require for the purchase of products or services. As such Newer shops would be built to cater to the growing middle class locals and the tourist coming to the country. They include modern technology like lifts, touch screen navigation to shops, air-conditioned shopping environment and more contributes to make the experience more enjoyable at the retail centers. All these modern technology present in modern retail outlets are the effects of retail development. This comes at a time when Vietnam’s economy is currently growing at a very fast pace. It is one of the fastest growing country in Asia with Inflation growth per year at 8% in Vietnam, while average countries have an increase of 3% per year, Vietnam’s GDP also have a tremendous growth of 6.7% per year. At the rate at which Vietnam’s economy is developing, naturally the spending power of its citizens will increase due to the higher job opportunities available to the citizens. Higher spending power will result in higher demand of quality services and products in the country. Thus the retail development in HCMC is reflected in the country's development as higher spending power will cause citizens to want to shop in better developed retail outlets as there are  better experience and quality. 

EQ 4: The Comparison of singapore and vietnam modern retail outlet

During the visit of the various modern retail outlets in vietnam, we noticed many different characteristics between the modern retail outlets in both countries. The modern retail outlet can be categorized into two different category of spending power. There are higher end retail outlets that sells branded items like Channel and there are retail outlets that either have shops that sells items suited to the middle class or shops that sell items for the middle class and higher class.

Comparing the middle class retail outlets in both countries in general, the Vietnam retail outlet has up to 2 times wider aisle in department stalls as compared to singapore. Also the store space are bigger due to the cheaper per square foot rent. The reason of this could be down to the cheaper land prices which allows these modern retail markets to be built "horizontally" instead of "vertically". As building "horizontally" is considerably less expensive than building "vertically". With bigger surface area, similarities of both malls would be the concept of the interior design, which is elegant and designed to look sophisticated. There are also the mode of transport in the mall, which are escalators and lifts. These are just some of the similarities present. 

Day 5 Reflections – Niklaus Teo

  I learnt that Countries that help with developing infrastructure gains not just in terms of financially, but also in terms of relationship. For example vietnam government tap on Singapore's expertise on town planning and architectural knowledge. They use Singapore’s knowledge to make VSIP 1,2, expansion, bac ninih and more. It is not only the vsip that is being built. Singapore do plan the surroundings around these vsip to develop the whole infrastructure in parts of vietnam and around the vsip to aid the productivity of the vsip. For example the roads around and in the vsip are big, smooth and are well marked, similar to roads of singapore. They also make the surroundings have greenery and even plan the drainage system. All of these are planned to aid the effectiveness in the industries to make it a competitive industries for companies to move to to produce their products. This shows the approach to planning must be as a whole with every consideration taken place. You cannot develop a product or system without considering every single aspect.  

  The second thing I learnt is that we must have the appropriate thinking when facing different situations. This is due to the fact that the initial mindset that you bring to decide on every situation will definitely affect the decision that you are going to make. In order for you to be a competitive in the real world and decide, for example whether to take up this business opportunity, you have to be able to take risks sometimes in order to gain. This type of entrepreneur  mindset can benefit the society in having rapid urbanization or developing new products or services for this Society. 

  Another thing I learnt was  the vsip 2 is a very good example of town planning for an industrial park. In vsip 2 they have a 1000 hectare of industrial zone that compromises of 300 hectare or industrial area(vsip 2) and 700 hectare of township. The town includes many amenities such as eastern international university, culture center, financial center and more. They will also make use of public transport to connect Ho Chi Min city from Binh Duong. The roads are also 33 metre in width to prevent traffic jams, thus making the personal transportation around town faster and also lesser air pollution due to the more efficient traffic flow. There are also schools ranging from primary schools all the way to universities so that the people living around the area are able to gain the necessary education in order to have skills to work for specific industries. This not only make it more appealing for other companies as there are a pool of labour to work in this companies. Looking back at the whole development of VSIP 2, it actually takes in consideration of all aspects of the city planning. I think overall singapore has made a very good decision to help vietnam with the urban planning as it can be a win win situation for both countries. Vietnam government will gain through the increase of job opportunities and the attraction of other companies. 

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 4 Reflections (May 25) — Si Yuan, Stacey, Davina & Niklaus

The Amazing things we learnt and observed today

Forest Trails in the Can Gio Biosphere

The boat that we sat to go to a villager who participated in this project

 Ms Charm interviewing the villager 

A picture of our group after planting seedlings in the fields

EQ 1: I want to know the living conditions of the villagers living in the biosphere and what made the villagers attracted to stay within the biosphere

The living conditions of the villagers in the biosphere is not up to par with todays's urban city. They might have television, but it is still a CRT from what we observed in Mr Long's house. The construction of the house is built using wooden planks as pillars and roof and their boats are built with similar materials. Although authorities are subsidizing the cost of building a new home close to his current location, the cost is still pretty high (est. 185 million dong) and is made worst by the small income that the people at biosphere earns. They simplify do not have enough money to live a very comfortable life. Living in the biosphere also post many additional problems like the lack of electricity that is only confined to the electricity gathered from solar panels. The water supply has to be brought through boats carrying water tanks and the villagers living there have to pay a high price of 60000 dong for each cubic meter of water. Also the villagers have to make long journeys daily just to send their children to schools daily. All of these are some of the problems that causes poorer living conditions in Can Gio biosphere as compared to living in an urbanized city.

EQ 2: I would like to see how UNESCO presented and proposed their ideas the villagers and convincing them to participate in the project

At first, there were not many people who wanted to participate into this project. But after the local authorities increased the pay they would receive when they participate in this project, many people jumped on this opportunity. This was how UNESCO managed to convince people to participate in the project. 

However, I think they could get more locals to willingly participate if they improved their living conditions. They currently have to built their own houses and it is troublesome for them to go to the city. 

EQ 3:  I wish to know if any of the villagers have any ideas to improve the biosphere or to improve their living conditions

They hope that the government can subsides the water prices or the government can release the rights to filtration of water. As well as increase the pay for each hector of land as the price of petrol is very expensive as well as the fee for schooling. The reasons i think why the government is not subsiding the villagers' water prices or increasing wages is because vietnam itself does not have enough water so villagers will be more frugal with the use of water. What the government should be subsiding is the children's school fees as it takes up much of the wages the villagers receive.

EQ 4:  I would like to know how villages get their daily necessity from such rural areas

The people might be staying in rural places but what they earn is barely enough to spend. I found out that they lear how to use their time very wisely when they are in the city sending their kids off to school. They then use that period of time to visit the market to buy their daily necessity. They earn around 3-4 million dongs per month and almost 70% of it is spent on the daily necessity and the kids education. They have to pay for their water supplies every single day and that will cost them 3 USD per cubic metre.

  

In conclusion, there definitely can be an difference in solving sustainability issues as there have been contracts made with the villagers to prevent deforestations in the area that the villager is taking care of. Flouting these contracts can result in a huge fine to suspension from living around that environment. All of these ensures that the trees will not be cut down. Also the villagers living around that area grow many crops that can contribute to the food supply in the whole of vietnam. For example a total of 1.7 to 1.8 tons of shrimp can be harvested per year and this is only per household. Multiply that by the 152 household present in the Biosphere, huge amounts of crops can be harvested. They also use environmentally friendly solar panels to have electricity. Although it solves sustainability issues, but ultimately the villagers living there may have to suffer to achieve such outcome. 

What we learnt from the forest trails in Can Gio Biosphere

  The Can Gio Biosphere is covers 1/3 of the land area of Ho Chi Min City. There are a total of 5 districts in Can Gio Biosphere and has is 71 thousand hectare. Of those 70 thousands are inhabitant. Within the year, there are 2 seasons, the rainy season and the dry season which occurs from May to October and November to April respectively. Temperature around that area range from 22 to 33 degrees Celsius. with an average of 27 degrees Celsius. 

  During the 1964 Vietnam and USA war, the effects of 4 million litres of poisonous herbicides being poured on the forest of Can Gio Biosphere causes the whole area to be destroyed with all the mangroves being killed and rendering the whole forest into a wasteland, but help was on its way. The barren land was recovered by local dedicated local people by importing mangrove seedlings from other far away provinces to Can Gio Biosphere. The whole journey took a total of 10 days and it wasn't a completely problem free journey. Insects destroyed the trees up to 50% of the trees during the 10 day journey to the Can Gio Biosphere, but they cut the weaker trees and used stronger trees to plant the mangroves. So over a span of 30 years, Can Gio Biosphere regained its mangrove surroundings again 

Day 2 Reflections – Niklaus Teo

The 3 things that i learnt today

68th story Bitexco Fiancial Tower in District 7 of Phu My Hung Urban Area

  The first thing that i learnt today in the tour around the city is the plan for development of urbanization in the city of Saigon. From what i observed and learnt today, there are selected areas of Saigon that has been developed or was in construction. Also others that have not been developed yet. but  For example places such as District 2 & 7, in a bid to develop new urban centers, trade centers, Shopping centers, tall private buildings, schools, roads, bridges and more are being built around this area. They are not completely funded by the government, in fact companies from other countries invest in these areas to build buildings due to the fast growing economy in vietnam that is the fastest in any country in South East Asia. Its increase in GDP of 8% for the last 3 years is evidences of the fast growing economy.

A junction filled with motorbikes stopping at a junction

  The second thing that i learnt today was the choice of mode of transportation in Vietnam. For personal transportation  I noticed the high amount of motorbikes as compared to other mode of transport like cars or trucks. The reason could be due to the lower income level that the majority of the residents in Saigon receive force them to have motorbike as their mode of transport. There were many incidents of me seeing some families of 3 or 4 sitting on a single motorbike. 

  In Terms of public transport, the main mode of transport i have observed were the city bus service and the taxi. I have heard of pillion riders, whereby you are transported on a motorbike to your destination, but i did not observed many of such services. The buses are not usually fully filled, which indicates the fewer population using that mode of transport, but the buses are still air-conditioned and uses bus stops to pick up or drop off passengers. Taxis were pretty evident and they use metering to determine the cost of the taxi ride.

Mung Chua Phuc Sinh church in Saigon, Vietnam 

 The third thing that i learnt today is the French influenced design of older buildings in Vietnam. This is due to the fact that previously, Saigon was part of the French Colony. Therefore, there are many historical buildings like Mung Chua Phuc Sinh church and the Buu Dien post office that have designs similar to the bulidings that are found in France.