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 – Stacey Yip

The VSIP are not located in Ho Chi Minh City but in the province of Binh Duong. Singapore does the town planning but does not provide them with the resources. Singapore teaches Vietnam how to fish rather then giving the fish to them. Singapore provides them with the necessary skills they need and leave them by themselves after they are self-sufficient.

VSIP 1
- 500Ha
- International companies are present
- Looks like Singapore in terms of traffic planning and drainage system
- Used land space by constructing buildings more horizontally then vertically (rocket houses etc)

VSIP 2
- 1000Ha
- Currently expanding (empty land space)


We should grasp the overall knowledge and then applying it into the context that we are in.

Vietnam wanted to copy Singapore and thus introduced the drainage system – canal into Vietnam. This plan worked only for VSIP 1 but was not carried forward into VSIP 2. This was because it was very costly to import and rebuild this kind of drainage system and was more of a want than a need in Vietnam’s context. They realized that they had insufficient funds and thus could not introduce it into VSIP 2 too.

There should be balance between thinking and acting.

Singaporeans are generally very “safe” people, they do not often take risks and must plan carefully before doing any big decision. However, this does not mean careful planning is bad, over excessive of anything is bad. Risks without prior planning is bad, planning too much without taking any risks is also bad as the time spent thinking would be wasted while others are already taking the risk. The balance should be between planning and risks.

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 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 – Stacey Yip

1. Ho Chi Minh has 19 districts
- District 1 and 3 are considered as old cities
- 2, 4 and 7 are developing districts. (District 4 used to be the “Mafia” district)
- 5 is known as the Chinatown
2. Rocket houses/Pencil-like houses

Tube houses

- These architecture are narrow and long
- They are built in such a way as the people are taxed on the width of their building at the street. Thus they minimized their building lot at the street but make it longer inside.
- Buildings have influence from past occupiers in Vietnam. They are mostly heavily influenced by the French. Arches, intricate and elaborate designs can be found on some buildings.
3. The common sight of motorcycles 

Parked motorcycles

-  Vietnamese use motorcycles as it has higher movability on roads
- The law of using helmets was only introduced 5 years ago.
- The government control the number of bikes on the road through the use of contract.
- People find the use of helmets very hindering as it messes their hair. Thus they only ensure that they have something on their head. (Exp hats or caps instead of helmets)