Hear are two letters that were written to the Straitis Time.

May 27, 2008
No traffic police, no lights, no problem...

I VISITED Vietnam recently and was impressed by the country's traffic culture. We can learn from the people.

Ho Chi Minh City, in the south, has more than 4.5 million motorcycles, cruising and ridden around without proper traffic lights and signs.

One requires nerves of steel merely to cross a junction with all those bikes crisscrossing one's path.

However, throughout my visit there, I did not see a single traffic mishap, dispute or scuffle on the road.

Like a perfectly solved Lego puzzle, there was no traffic jam or gridlock.
There was not a single police officer to direct traffic and no traffic junction camera to monitor movements.

The roads are crowded day and night, but traffic flows like an untrammelled river.

How can a country and its population go about its daily business so flawlessly, without disputes and accidents on the road?

And possibly without a road courtesy campaign to guide them too. There is a lesson to be learnt here.

It must be their self-discipline and consideration for one another.
Motorists somehow believe in the concept of 'road harmony' and have fine-tuned it to perfection for the benefit of everyone.

I can only wish that Singapore motorists will one day practise this on our roads.
Douglas Chua




May 30, 2008
Vietnam has road harmony? You're kidding...

I REFER to Tuesday's letter by Mr Douglas Chua, 'No traffic police, no lights, no problem', praising the traffic situation in Vietnam.

I have just returned from a trip to Vietnam, including a visit to Hanoi.

I beg to differ from Mr Chua. During my week-long stay, I saw two accidents involving bikers zipping about without regard for traffic rules.

Yes, traffic was relatively smooth flowing, but it was common to see bikers running red lights. Pedestrians risked being knocked down when they tried to cross the road.

The 'road harmony' Mr Chua praises comes with ceaseless sounding of horns by motorists at one another and at pedestrians.

I was told the speed limit is 60kmh in the city and along country roads. But it is impossible to achieve that speed in the city with motorcyclists zipping in and out.

Perhaps the Vietnamese have more to learn from us than we do from them.

Koh Chin Chin (Mdm)

These two letters show two different views about the traffic conditions in Vietnam.

Does it means that one of them is wrong?

What about those who were taking part in the GP programme? Any views?

Viet women riders spice up their 'rice cookers'

Young motorcyclists customise helmets with pretty covers to look less stuffyBy Roger Mitton

Straits Time June 7, 2008

HANOI - YOUNG Vietnamese women have always loved to wear colourful bonnets, especially when tootling around town on their snappy motor scooters.

The stylish tradition, however, came under threat last December when the authorities began enforcing a new law that required all riders to wear crash helmets.

Suddenly, the young women riders no longer looked so pretty.

With drab, ungainly helmets perched on their heads, they made the streets of Vietnam seem much duller and less charming.

The girls certainly loathed the helmets, referring to them as 'rice cookers'. But they had to wear them - or face paying a hefty fine.

More than a quarter of Vietnam's population of 86 million own a motorbike, and the result is a death toll that reached 30 a day last year.

With the implementation of the new law on helmets, fatalities have dropped by 15 per cent, and injuries by 33 per cent. The downside, however, has been the rise of ugly 'rice cookers' replacing the attractive bonnets.

Fortunately, Vietnam's entrepreneurial spirit has stepped in, and stylised helmet covers shaped like pretty bonnets have sprouted up everywhere.
Said Ms Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a secretary at one of the foreign embassies in Hanoi: 'I'm proud to say I was among the first women to wear one. All my friends said: 'Oh, Ngoc Anh, you look so lovely in your new helmet'.
'They asked me where I got it and now they all have one.'

Usually made of textile or light plastic, the covers fit snugly over the top of the helmets and are secured with elastic or snap-on clips. They come in all manner of designs and shades, from shocking pink to Scottish tartan to kitschy polka dots with flouncy wide brims.

Said Ms Anh: 'Lots of women wear them now and they make the streets less stuffy and more beautiful.'
Not to be outdone, many men have also adopted cap-shaped helmet covers with camouflage designs, the stars and stripes of the American flag, or colours of their favourite football teams.

But some say the new trend is getting out of hand - and may even be dangerous.
Doctors have cautioned that certain helmet covers, especially those with stiff plastic brims, may increase the chance of injury in an accident.

Said Mr Duong Minh Man, director of Ho Chi Minh City's Cho Ray Hospital Brain Injury Department: 'Since March this year, we've had about 40 motorbike accident cases each day, and many have involved wounds caused by girls wearing brimmed helmets.'

But Vietnam's womenfolk certainly appear unconvinced by the warnings.
Said Ms Anh: 'To be honest, I don't like wearing a crash helmet, decorated or not, especially on hot, humid days. But life is hard and you have no choice. So it's better to look pretty, anyway.'

Reflection Time

Dear students,
Learning does not end with the completion of our trip to Vietnam.

In fact true learning has just began now that we have time to think over what we have seen, learnt and experienced.

Choose one of the following questions to reflect on.You may choose to post your comments here or if you have good pictures, you may send your reflection and pictures to the following address :frances_ess@moe.edu.sg

The questions may take a little longer to answer but we assure you it will be very
great learning experiences.

We intend to publish a book on this GP Programme and so your reflections might be selected. Please include your name and class.

The War Remnants Museum

The Japanese do not teach about the Japanese Occupation in their schools. When they visit the Changi War Museum, some of them will be affected. The War Remnants Museum was previously known as the Museum of American War Crimes.

1. Do you think that this museum serve a purpose?



2. If so what is the purpose?



3. Do you think it is effective?



4. With liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States, should this museum be closed down?



5. If not why?

The Dieu Giac Temple Orphanage

The aim of the orphanage is to provide the children with a safe and caring environment which lessens their misfortune and gives their lives greater purpose and meaning.

Being a private organization, the orphanage is facing many problems in trying to provide the children with food, shelter, health and education. The nuns and volunteers at the orphanage have devoted their lives for the wonderful mission - helping the orphans. Yet they have limited human and financial resources.

1. Did we do the right thing in collecting toys, clothes and food for the children?



2. What was the short term and long term impact of our gift package?



3. What else could we have done given our limited time, money and resources?

Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities,Faculty of Oriental Studies.

The students from the Faculty of Oriental Studies made a great effort to established a good relationship with our school.

1. Do you think it is important to established such ties?

2. If they were to visit our school, what kind of programmes would you have planned for them?

3.How can we continue to maintain a good relationship with Vietnam?

Impact of Agent Orange

Agent Orange is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, an estimated 20 million gallons of Agent Orange were deployed in South Vietnam. Over 3 million people have been affected by Agent Orange like the increased risk of various types of cancer and genetic defects.

1. Do you think it was right of the United State to use Agent Orange?

2. What kind of help should the United State offer for the suffering that they have caused to Vietnam?

3. Should the sons of America pay for the sin of the fathers?

4.Should the Agent Orange victims remain a dignified silence or speak up?

Home Sweet Home

This is the last group photo we took before we left HCM city.
It is outside our hotel called May Hotel

At the airport, while waiting for the plane to take off, the teachers were reviewing the GP Programme and writing the report.

Thank to the fast Internet access, the report was completed and send to the relevant authorities in record time




This picture says it all.

Need we say more?

History is written by the Victor

Day four

The histroy of conflcit is written by victor.

Today, we visited The War Remnants Museum in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

It consists of exhibits relating to the American's crime conducted during the Vietnam War. It has become a major tourist attraction.
Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government [of South Vietnam]."

Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993.

Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States, but the museum does not attempt to be politically balanced.

The museum comprises a series of eight themed rooms in several buildings, with period military equipment located within a walled yard.

The military equipment include a UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, an F-5A fighter, a BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" bomb, M48 Patton tank, and an A-1 attack bomber

The is a picture of a woman who gave birth to four sons who are affected by Agent Orange.

There are over 3 million people who were affected by Agent Orange.

History in the making

In the morning, we visited the Singapore Vietnam Industrial park.


Mr Anthony Tan, the Deputy General Director was there to explain to us the development of the VSIP.
He explained to us the reasons why t.he part was developed
We presented a token of appreciation to him after the talk.

We revisited the children home again as we did not have much time to interact with them the day before.

These were the photographs that were taken by them after we left the home the day before.

They were happy with the model airplane that Mdm Tay denonated.
The children showing off the airplane models.

How to play these games?

The founder of the children home with her helper show the gifts that were given to them
Helper working to sort out the gifts.

Mrs Koh established a firm relationship with his child.

Having a good time in the swing.

What is that?
Some of our students took time to feed this child.
While others taught the children how to read the story book whihc we had brought over.

Who is Uncle Ho?

Who is Uncle Ho?

Ho Chí Minh listen was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman, who later became prime minister (1946–1955) and president (1946–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).

Ho led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. He led the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War until his death; six years later, the war ended with a North Vietnamese victory, and Vietnamese unification followed. He was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, while the former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.

Unlimited Wants, Limited Resourses

Day 3

Unlimited Wants, Limited Resources

Problem Based Learning.

A group of students was tasked to start an enterprise. They were to raise the capital from the students. With this capital, they had to do a market survey in Vietnam to examine the kind of goods that can be sold in Singapore.

The following day, they were given a limited amount of time to buy these items.

They encountered several problems but they managed to overcome them.

Even the boys learnt to shop with an aim and constrain in mind.

It was also International Children Day and the government organised many activities for them.

We were honoured to be given a chance to visit a children home on this day.

These were the bags of goodies that we brought from Singapore.

We had a great time interacting with the children. Mrs Koh was playing a game with the children.




The children enjoyed the book marks that were made by our students.