A blog to record the learning journey of our Global Citizenship Programme (GCP) trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, by the Year 2 students of the School of Science and Technology, Singapore (SST), from 21st to 26th May 2012.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Day 5 Reflections, Toby Gail Lim
I think HCMC is a city that has many sides to it. Many people usually have the impression that HCMC is a place that is traditional and not so urban, similar to the Hanoi area. After this trip, I have seen parts of HCMC that I have never seen before, which are very polished and urban. In the different districts, I actually see many different types of HCMC.
EQ2: What is a culture?
Culture is a rich mix of beliefs, designs, practices, arts and more. Each culture has its own distinctive characteristics that makes it unique and different from other cultures, and some cultures might have similarities.
EQ3: What influences the culture of a country?
The main factor that influences the culture of a country is the people there, as well as the history of the country. It depends on what the people in the past started to believe in and do, which slowly builds up and forms a rich culture over the years.
EQ4: How is the retail development, a reflection of a country's development?
The more developed their retail is, the more the country is developing. The retail of a country is to cater to the needs of a people, so if a country is developing, then the people would have even more needs, which means that the retail would be developed better to cater to these needs.
Day 5 & 6 Reflections-Ng Ying Liang
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Reflections Day 5 and 6 -Jiajun
Day 5 and 6 reflections Matthew
My impressionHCMC is that it is a slowly developing city that is encompassing different types of city planning from different countries that have the same space and excel with such spaces. HCMC is a place that has a rich culture that can be seen in every area. HCMC's traffic is on another level that we Singaporeans won't be able to handle if we went there without any knowledge of it before we venture to their country.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Day 5 & 6 Reflections: Bryan Kong
EQ1: How is the retail development, a reflection of a country's development?
It shows how good te economy of the country is. Having better retail shop, malls etc. menas that the country is developing and earning money.
Day 6
EQ1: What is your impression of HCMC?
I think that HCMC is still developing, not a city state now but maybe in the future. Some of the city might be old but they would most probably be renovated soon.
EQ2:What is a culture?
A culture is a belief shared by some people, the methods of doing something religious. A culture is also special to that certain group of people.
EQ3: What influences the culture of a country?
Some foreign countries might have went to Vietnam to plan and do things their own ways by taking Vietnam by force. Another is an example of Singapore helping Vietnam for building a city. The roads, street lamps, skyscrapers were mostly copied from Singapore. Thus, some of the culture would change due to all of these factors.
Day 5 & 6 Reflections: Dylan Loo
Day 6 Reflections:
EQ1: What is your impression of HCMC?
I think that HCMC is a currently developing country with some parts still old from the past and other parts of HCMC still growing and developing into a more modern setting.
EQ2: What is a culture?
A culture is a term describing the beliefs, the arts, the society and the methods of doing things from a group of people. The culture is unique to the group of people themselves.
EQ3: What influences the culture of a country?
The influence of the culture of a country are other countries and their ways of planning and doing things. If such a country colonizes the other country then some of their cultures will mix, changing it.
Day 5 Reflections:
EQ 1: How is the retail development, a reflection of a country's development?
It shows the country's development as the more advanced the retail development is in the country, the more developed the country is-- retail development can be rather costly, and once the retail department of the country is quite developed, it will start to bring in a steady income, and the country can then also continue to develop.
Day 5 and 6 Reflections - Jing Yi
Day 5&6 reflections
Day 5 Reflections by JiaEn
What is your impression of HCMC?
HCMC seems to be a very traditional city, still developing. The traffic is busier than Singapore's and it is harder to cross the roads. Rather than modernized shopping malls, there are more roadside stalls. However, there are modernized areas, not often frequented though. I do realize through the days that HCMC has very natural and nice environment. Away from the city are lots of plains and plantations, a stark contrast with Singapore's concrete jungle. I like that part of HCMC a lot.
What is a culture?
A culture is a custom, arts and norms of the people living in an area. It differs place to place, religion to religion. All of them have their uniquely beautiful points.
What influences the culture of a country?
The way the citizens behave, the environment the country offers and the economic state of the country influences the culture of a country. The citizens may have different complex beliefs that will cause the country to have a different culture to accommodate their needs. The environment of a country allows the people to live differently, and the environment can offer different raw materials that will affect the economic state of the country, thus giving the country the ability to develop and improve on different cultures.
How is the retail development, a reflection of a country's development?
The development is very well done, as there is an obvious difference in the hypermarkets from the traditional markets. However, the hypermarkets are currently not well-suited to the needs of the citizens of HCMC as it seems that the hypermarkets have much lesser people than the traditional markets even though they have better facilities. It is possibly due to the fact that development is incomplete. However, a great improvement in the modernization can be seen and the use of the concept "live-work-play-learn" is obvious.
Day 5 & 6 Reflection by Jonathan
Day 5 EQ1: Retail development is a image of the country's economy. The more expensive and wider the range of the goods sold, it shows that the country has a better and more well off economy. The better economy leads to a even better country development which goes in hand with each other.
Day 6 EQ1: HCMC is a relatively huge city with a special culture. It is the main city in the south of Vietnam and it looks very modernised in certain areas. The French, Chinese and American influence are visible and heightens the first impression of the city. HCMC has many visible signs of a developing city like the on-going constructions of new districts and megamalls.
Day 6 EQ2: A culture is the common shared belief and way of life of a group of people. It is usually closely linked to religious beliefs but a culture can be shared by anyone with the similar thoughts.
Day 6 EQ3: The influential factors of the culture of a country are geological locations, people who live there, the environment, the most dominant religion and many others. Such are crucial factors as the geological location can determine whether the country has a lot of excess to agriculture and water which determines whether more water and agriculture are being involved with the culture of the country. Also, the people and the race determines the culture as people of different races have different mindsets. Other factors have their own unique influence.
Day 5 and 6 Reflections by He Shiying
Day 5 and 6 Reflections by Valery
Day 5&6 Reflections- Devanshi
EQ1. How is the retail development, a reflection of a country’s development?
The retail development of a certain country refers to the amount of income they make through selling goods in that particular country. The retail development is dependent on many different aspects which include the number of tourist the country gets on average, as when tourists spend money here, they contribute to the income of that country. With a high retail development, we can say that that country has many visitors there who are willing to spend their money on goods there. Thus, it is also inferable that that country is a popular tourist destination and is developed in terms of attraction of tourist into that country. If a particular country's retail development is generally low, the country would not be a popular tourist destination where people would come to to spend money. Thus, making the country's development not quite as successful as other countries would be if they have a higher retail development. For a country to have a high retail development, the country must be popular. For a country to be popular, a country must be able to present themselves as a good place to be at and spend their money at. For that to happen, a country must first be developed enough for people to want to come and visit. Thus, a country's retail development does reflect on the county's development.
Day 6:
EQ1. What is your impression of HCMC?
Ho Chi Minh City is very big and has many different parts to it. Some parts of HCMC are not quite that developed yet, but do contain a rich culture, tradition and past of Vietnam. While, some other parts of Vietnam look like they are going to be similar to what we see in Singapore very soon. Such as high-rised buildings and developed infrastructures being built. These parts show the bright potential of Vietnam to be a developed country in time to come. Our hotel is located in the not so developed part of Vietnam so, we get to taste life in a way that is new to us. We can easily see the contrast between life here in Vietnam and the life we experience in Singapore. HCMC may not be the most technologically advanced and hi-tech, but there sure are nice people here. HCMC seems to be a very free and easy lifestyle for the people living here. Overall, HCMC is a nice place, but I think it has the potential to be much more than it is today.
EQ2. What is a culture?
The formal definition of culture is the arts and the other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. Which in simpler words refers to the way of life people adopt. Way of life in this case may refer to how they do things. Cultures are usually a way of life that is passed on and improvised by ancestors. There are many different cultures that may differ with the place the group of people are located or even the religion or beliefs they have.
EQ3. What influences the culture of a country.
A country's culture may be affected by the location of the country. With the location, things may be done differently and the culture may also be affected by the weather and the collective beliefs of that group of people who share a similar culture. Culture may also differ due to the ancestors and their way of doing things. Cultures do not just become cultures overnight. The practice and way of life should be practiced by generations of people in order to be called a culture. Times may be different in the past and we cannot just follow culture blindly, so people do modify and improvise on they way live their life but the basic belief stays the same.
Day 5 and 6 Reflections by Claire
I think that HCMC is a very different city from Singapore. Even though we have some similarities, both cities are unique in their own ways. HCMC is a fun, exciting and interesting place. It has a culture that no other cities or countries have.
2. What is a culture?
A culture is a flavour of the country/ city/ state. Every location has a different culture.
3. What influences the culture of a country?
Many factors influences the culture of a country. One is the people living in the country. They all have different personalities, thinking and beliefs as people from other countries. Another is the government, how they lead the country and bring up the country. Also, the infrastructure, because what is being built is important to the economy of the country and also the living of the people in the country.
4. How is the retail development, a reflection of a country's development?
The retail development tells a lot about a country's development. In hcmc, you can see many roadside stores along the streets. These are the most common places where the people living in hcmc shop at. However, new shopping centres started being developed in the vicinity, which were considered places where the higher income people shop at. Then recently, new malls that sell branded goods and high end items started popping up, which is now where all the richer people live near and shop at.
Day 5 & 6 Reflections by Saishwar
It is a city which is still developing but will surely develop into a major city. Despite it having messy roads and a poor traffic control, the city is developing into one which is organized. More modern buildings are being developed in the city too and so it will be able to progress in the future. It still has it's own unique people and cultures unlike most other cities and has stuck with its roots.
EQ2. What is a culture?
It is a set of customs or actions performed by a certain group of people. The culture is unique to these certain group of people and you cannot see it anywhere else. The people perform these almost every day.
EQ3. What influences the culture of a country?
The people in the country and their actions done daily. Whatever the people do will spread to others and soon it becomes a culture and so one person's actions which is unique will eventually affect the culture of the country. This will be what influences the culture of the country as it slowly spreads across the nation to other people.
EQ4. How is the retail development, a reflection of a country's development?
When we look at the products sold by the shops in the country we will be able to know how advanced their products are and how good the quality is. This will also attract higher end brands if they have good retail development as time progresses and so the status of the country will also develop. With more higher end brands having businesses here, other countries will have a better impression on the country and so it will have a better reflection of the country.
Day 5 Reflections - Isaac Lim
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Day 4 Reflections-Bryan Kong
EQ2:Singapore helped in Vietnam's urban planning. Thus, some of the houses seen there look similar to those in Singapore, an example would be HDB. One of the concept is: Live, Work, Play and Learn.
Day 4 Reflections - Matthew
Singapore is a small country with small work forces deployed in each factory, thus when mass producing objects such as coffee or other items, the duration is much longer and the profit isn't that good if the objects dont sell. Vietnam on the other hand is a larger country with a much larger population which will have larger work forces in factories and other work sites. If they invest in Vietnam they might be able to set up factories with the vietnam workforce which will push sales up by a huge percentage. Singapore and Vietnam have ongoing projects with each other it would allow Singapore to set up factories, schools etc. in Vietnam this is boost Vietnams economic and other factors which will prove to be a win-win situation for both countries.
EQ2. How Singapore influences Vietnam?
Singapore's urban planning uses the 'Live - Play - Work - Learn' concept and design. In a certain area there will be a workplace with eateries beside it and some place nearby there will be housing for those workers and shopping centres for relaxation and play. This planning is very eminent in Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) where the work places, and other components of the concept are close to each other and separated which allows for the workers to eat in just a few steps. The roads are much wider there and housing is close to some workplaces.
Day 4 Reflections- Ng Ying Liang
Singapore is a small country with limited land but they have the economic strength whereas Vietnam has lots of undeveloped land available for use. Singapore can make use of the undeveloped land to build more industrial buildings and also workforce in Vietnam cost a lot less than what they have to pay in Singapore.
EQ 2. How Singapore influences Vietnam?
Singapore helps in the urban planning of Vietnam. Vietnam also makes use of the existing architecture and structure in Singapore to use the undeveloped land. Examples are the concept “Live, Work, Play and Learn” as well as a hospital located near the VSIP
Day 4 Reflections - Bryan Sim
Singapore and Vietnam needs to work together to prosper. Vietnam has many big plots of flat, unused grassland which can be used for further development like industry that Singapore doesn't have; Singapore has also many companies from the States that Vietnam doesn't have. If both countries work together, they could use the advantages of either country to expand their industry. For example, Singapore could make use of Vietnam's unused land to build more factories and Vietnam's huge workforce to find manufacturers and engineers. Vietnam, in return, could make use of the various companies from the States in Singapore to attract other companies and businesses to Vietnam.
EQ2) How Singapore influences Vietnam?
Some of the housing estates in the Vietnam Singapore Industry Park (VSIP) are similar to that of the common HDBs in Singapore. The VSIP is based on: Live, Work, Play and Learn. The town planning of the industry park is also similar to Singapore's.

