Before this trip, my impression of Vietnam has been like many other: a Third World Country. I thought that Vietnam was a less developed country. Mental image of a dirty road filled with a heap of rubbish, a contaminated river and numerous depilated and rundown building never failed to appear in my mind whenever Vietnam was mentioned.
However, obviously much of my opinion and impression was proven wrong as the four days trip in Vietnam changed my opinion to a certain extent, it was not as horrible as I imagined out to be. Instead, I find that Vietnam is very much similar to its neighbour country like Thailand and Yunnan in China. Traffic and road system in Vietnam was bad and messy but the unique culture and splendid scenery made up for its disadvantages.
During this four days, there are many wonderful and countless memorable memories and experiences.
So picking up the top three was really difficult, but well... I must say that the cyclo rides was the most unforgettable. On the first day, we sat on the cyclo and tour around the ancient quarters. The ride around the street was exciting, thrilling and dangerous, but that’s what made it exciting. The road was filled with mostly motorcycles, a few bicycle and cars. All the vehicles were moving in different direction on the same road lanes. Furthermore the cyclo was constantly changing direction or path to avoid collision with other vehicle in front. The uneven road practically made the cyclo jump which contribute to the fear or perhaps dangerous factors.
At the same time, we were treated with a fair share of Vietnamese daily lifestyle as the cyclo cycle round the street, through this I have a better idea of Vietnam and its people. Lastly, I had a slight idea of the traffic and road system as every second in the road was filled with drivers honking. This cyclo rides was comparable to a rollercoaster rides and it kind of remind me about racing where every vehicles wanted to reach their destination first, hence overtaking one another and making the road look so cramp.
Cruising to Ha Long Bay to visit Thien Cung and Dau Go Caves is next on my list. Imagine having lunch at breathtaking scenery, it certainly made a different. The experience was like a geography textbook come to life, where the picture of landform was right in front us. Of course, I couldn’t resist the beautiful scenery and snap a few photo and spent a lot of time appreciating and taking in of the scenery. The weather and the scenery made me feel calm and peaceful.
When I stepped in the Dau Go Caves, I was awe by this limestone cave with numerous stalagmites and stalactites. The colourful light lit the cave with a clear view of weathering process form in the cave. The Dau Go Cave remind me of the Jiuxiang Cave in Yunnan which both use colourful light to highlight the process occur and feature formed. Both Ha Long Bay and Dau Go Cave are certainly will not be found in Singapore, I spent most of the time absorbing the fascinating scenery and at the same time learning a lot of these process and formation of the landform. Hence, I have some idea of the beautiful landscape in Vietnam.
The visit to the Hilton Prison and Agent Orange Orphanage shows us the terrible truth of war. We often heard people telling us how horrible it is but we couldn’t understand how terrible it is. Hilton Prison shows it all, the horror of Vietnam War, the torture method use and execution equipment and it also shows the horror of any other war in general. There was an indescribable feeling in me while looking at the information and tools displayed. War was and always cruel, all this killing and humiliation was indescribably cruel. The atmosphere in the Hilton Prison was quite...tensing, and when I peek through the hole, I got nearly frighten out of my wit as I didn’t expect a life size model to be inside the cells. It is this kind of feeling which I suppose they wanted to convey to us about the Vietnam War.
The visit to Agent Orange Orphanage tell us about the after war impact on the second and third generation Vietnamese even after the war was long gone. Agent Orange is a kind herbicide that induces growth of plant which the American soldiers use to kill the board leaf plant so that the Vietnamese soldier couldn’t hide. The children in the orphanage suffer from birth defect and disabilities mostly due to Agent Orange. It was definitely heartbreaking for not only me but many other people as the children were trying to cope with their suffering.
The reason for putting the Hilton Prison and Agent Orange Orphanage together as a third most memorable experience were because both have a common aim of showing the destruction war causes. Hilton Prison shows how the prisoner and victim suffer under the hand of their enemy during the Vietnam War while Agent Orange Orphanage shows the impact of the Vietnamese children and people after the Vietnam War. I believe that the Vietnam was less developed than Singapore due to the huge impact of the Vietnam War which probably affect Vietnam growth and economy.
The trip has taught me to be more independent as I couldn’t depend on my family. Everything has to be done by myself and also learn to control my purse string.
I also learn to appreciate Singapore and my school as in Singapore, the road was safe and not as hectic as in Vietnam and the education system was in such a way that we learn more about other things beside studying the textbook all day long. This Vietnam Trip prove that Singapore educational system is quite creative and not so deadpan as many thought. The trip helps me to understand geography more as reading textbook couldn’t compared to seeing it yourself.
Lastly, I learn to look thing in a different way as this trip help to broaden my view on certain issue and not to be a frog-in-a-well.
Finally, I would like to end this reflection by thanking the school for the organizing the Vietnam Trip, the teacher for preparing the trip and assignment and making this a wonderful and unforgettable trip ever. Our tour guide and not forgetting the driver (who spend a lot of time driving – the three and a half hour ride to Ha Long Bay), and fellow schoolmate and friend for making this enjoyable and fun :D
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