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Friday, June 15, 2007
7:44 AM
Ho Chi Minh City Part 2
Next we went back to Ho Chi Minh City.
The tour guide, a middle age lady is Vietnamese Chinese. She could speak Chinese very well and she spoke a lot of Chinese and Cantonese proverbs. She was joined by a younger man who is the same age as I am. I asked him if he was born in year 80 or 81. We were both born in 1981. J Three cheers for the 81s babies! That was a coincidence and yes, I finally have someone to talk to besides my parents and some travel mates. There was also a lady tourist, 23 years of age who liked to talk to me. She was a really friendly and nice. Finally feel that I am not that unpleasant and anti-social, even though, I felt some jitters in me…
There are only 10 million Chinese in Vietnam as compared to 30 million in the past. She said that the Chinese seldom cross marriage to the Vietnamese and the ladies would never marry a native Vietnamese man. She said that Vietnamese men abuse their wives, which I think is not uncommon, as ladies in Vietnamese are still perceived to be secondary to men. This is rather traditional as cross marriages in Singapore are quite common.
There is a Chinatown in Ho Chi Minh City. The Chinese there can speak Cantonese and Vietnamese. Vietnam used to be under the Chinese rule. Therefore many of their culture are widely influenced by Chinese culture. I watched their traditional opera over the TV and it seemed so much like the Chinese opera except that they had simplier made-up. The singing style resembled that of the Chinese’s too. Most Chinese in Vietnam pray to Chinese gods and a handful of them are Buddhists. In Vietnam, one can tell a Chinese family apart by locating ritual of Chinese gods in the house.
The tour guide also told us a lot of the Vietnamese refuges history and how she tried to escape from her country. The northern communist party unified Southern Vietnam and many underwent hardship. Many freed from their country especially the Chinese who were said to be richer. Saigon, it’s former name was changed to Ho Chi Minh City since then. The escape caused the Chinese population to decrease remarkably. Some of these refuges died at the sea and sadly, only the fortunate ones had successfully freed from their country.
I didn’t see traces of communism in Ho Chi Minh City except for the “public security” These “public security” were volunteers. Vietnam is said to be a safe city where most parts are still rural areas. Ho Chi Minh City has the highest crime rates with minor crime like snatch bags and pick pocketing, etc.
Generally, I enjoyed my trip to Ho Chi Minh City even though it is still developing and the standard of living is far lower than in Singapore. If you can jaywalk, it’s good. Cu chi tunnels are something not to be missed!
you took my love away;
Friday, June 8, 2007
8:52 PM
OK, have a hard time trying to type all those words...here's part 1!
Ho Chi Minh City
It’s just Ho Chi Minh as the title because it’s simply Ho Chi Minh!
Ho Chi Minh City is the central business hub of Vietnam. It is a city with lots of motor vehicles especially motorcycles on the streets. Even demure and petite ladies are going on high speed. Anyone would have a bush with death while crossing the roads. My family and I were highly terrified as there aren’t any pedestrian crossings for us to cross the roads. The motor vehicles honked at us for obstructing their way. We didn’t go to many places on our own. Apart from the boos-boos, there are more interesting things about Vietnam which I think may hook you on. J
Shopping isn’t one of the attractions of Ho Chi Minh City. There is only ‘Diamond plaza ’which sells high range clothes, a few smaller shopping centres and many markets. The markets are very dirty with leftovers all over the place. However, this is something I have not seen in Singapore, so I find it pretty eye opening. The biggest market in Ho Chi Minh City is the Ben Thanh Market that looks very much like our ‘parsar’ in Singapore, selling a wide variety of fresh food, lots of necessities and souvenirs. Some ladies wear suit dresses and they reminds me of my grandmother. My mother said she had worn it when she was younger in the 60s. I can imagine both my mother and my grandmother wearing such flora suit dress when they were younger. Nevertheless, I bought one suit dress for myself out of curiosity. When I wore it, it was like a night suit. That reminds me. When I was in Beijing, I bought a suit dress and my friends commented that it was a night suit. In Vietnam, you can see a couple of ladies wearing it on the streets. Many people wear contemporary clothes, not fashionable ones and some wear their traditional clothes with a round pointed hat. One can easily tell that’s the Vietnamese culture indeed.
On the second day, we went to the Mekong river at My Tho city. First we visited the Vinh Trang Pagoda (build in the 19th century) Buddhist temple. It was built in a mixture of Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian architectural styles. I feel that it looks like a Taoist temple in Singapore. The Vietnamese could be practicing the Mahayana Buddhism, as the venerable resemble very much like the ones in China. I took pictures of the stone bench. It was really nice with Vietnamese words on it. It was a day before the Vesak Day, but there weren’t many people there. I also visited a Chinese Taoist temple, the Thien Hau temple, paying tribute to Ma Zu. However, the suffocating smoke of incense can easily differentiate the latter from the first.
Cuu Long, which means the nine dragons in Vietnamese name for Mekong River. It was the last place it passes before flowing into the sea. The waves were pretty huge. We took a river cruise and landed on two of the four islands of the Mekong River. We bought some coconut candies and ate some fruits and finally travel in a very small boat along a small stream. The other two Islands, one of which is an Island, paying tribute to an sect, Ye Zi Dao Ren sect. The leader was said to eat only coconut and drank coconut milk to stay alive. We headed back to Ho Chi Minh City.
On the third day, we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is a very ancient church, built by the French during their French colonisation. The statue of Marie was very large and she was stepping on a venom snake, set to believed that she was abolishing all demons. The Cathedral is situated in Paris Square, in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. A French priest laid the first brick in October 1877 and the last one in April 1880. Arrangements made with French required the construction to be managed by a French Engineer by the name of Baurad. The tota; cost was 2.5 million Francs. With the approval of the Vatican, the cathedral was named Notre Dame during ceremonies held in December 1959.
Near the church is the Central Post office. This is a French-style building with glass canopy and iron frame, built between 1886 and 1891 and is the far the largest post office in Vietnam. I bought some stamps and took some pictures of the communist figures. I saw “Uncle Ho” picture in the middle of the hall. Vietnam is a communist country since 1975, opened its door in 1988 and since then attracted many foreign investments. The tour guide took us to the city Hall. Stood in front of the city hall was a statue of a sitting Ho Chi Minh with a girl, reading a book. There was s wreath and I think some devotees placed it there. I don’t know if I should be proud of this. Ho Chi Minh was born on the 19th of May and I was born on this date too. Does that make me a revolutionist? He sought independence for Vietnam from the French and occupied North Vietnam as the stationed ground at that time. I am not the father of Singapore though, but Ho Chi Minh is the father of Vietnam, widely known as ‘Uncle Ho’by his people. There were many ‘public securities’ (policemen in communism terms) on the road, dressing in dark green uniform with the usual “red background with yellow star” badge. These ‘public securities’control the traffic and uphold law and order in the country. We were led by one of them when we were about to cross and extremely busy road (jaywalking). Next, we proceed to the Cu Chi tunnels, which were left behind by the guerrillas during the Vietnam war. It was impressive that some of these guerrillas were ladies, armed with rifles and lived in such small ‘holes’ for a period of time. They survived on Tapioca and they would die if they ate it for a prolonged period. I went into the place. It was hot and stuffy with tall trees. It was like a hike. We saw an old tanker left behind by the Americans and understood some of the lifestyle of these guerrillas. The traps made were very powerful and deadly and I felt a shiver down my spine. I hate to see people dying not of natural cause, so I couldn’t imagine how bad it was. I climbed the narrow passages. There were very small and we felt like rabbits going into our burrow. These tunnels were supposed to be widen for the bigger-size foreigners to go through them. We had to duck walk. My legs were sore, but it was a great experience though. My father went into the tunnels too. We said goodbye to the place and boy, did we hear bombings in that quiet place?
you took my love away;
Thursday, May 24, 2007
12:48 AM
Been away from the blog for a long time... my pc was down. It was so bad that I spent S$95 in repairing it...now the internet went haywire too, so I have to sign up for a more expensive connection. I feel the pinch as I feel that the extra money spent would be best used to donate to charity. It shouldn't be wasted on things like the internet. I am intending to use the old PC instead since I can log on to the internet. I shall think over it as it would be a two year contact which means that it would be S$120 more per year. It's expensive. I regretted having to spend on the HP...so what a miser I am? hehehe...The new goal is to earn more money, charged a higher rate if possible and cut down on other expenses e.g. less on food, clothes and others.... technology...medical fees...you're such a nuisance needs that we can't do without...at least, not without basic phoning and internet... :(
you took my love away;
Saturday, March 31, 2007
4:45 AM
Windflowers, my father told me not to go near them, he feared them always,Said they carried him away.Windflowers, I couldn't wait to touch them, to smell them, I held them closely.Now I cannot break away.Their sweet bouquet disappears like a vapor in the desert. Take a warning, son.Windflowers, their beauty captures every young dreamer who lingers near them.Ancient windflowers, I love you.
-Seals And Crofts Windflowers Lyrics (intro music by David Paich; lyrics and music by James Seals and Dan Seals, 1974)
you took my love away;
4:44 AM
Empowering Women Women empowering community:
Women as mothers, as mentors and as friends of our community
Women are mothers and they’re born with mothering nature of nurturing others who needs their care, concern and help. I do suppose these wonderful ladies who contributed to the society do their part as mothers to ensure the well-being of the organizations they’re in. They’re devil advocates to point out mistakes made. They’re enduring to give comforting advices to their counterparts and they perform their duties with most delicate care that certainly portrait the feminine and demure side of women. Most importantly, many are pursuers who know the importance of social coherence and go with whatever good advices with grace who many gain great respects from others. The female leaders, at many times, reflect a strong self-belief, but exercise tact and good judgments to ensure a communicative environment for those who put their trust in them. They are mentors to fellow women and men. Many provide good advices to people in need and even though some regards them as a nag, they are truthfully there to give concrete advices and questioning whatever that comes to their mind. This is to say, they’re careful and meticulous and this is something that balances any decisions made to prevent moments of folly. Loveable women are just great friends. They share their happiness, sorrows more freely to touch the hearts of many people with their truthfulness and sincerity. We have more fun with women at a community. Thus, they’re mothers, mentors and friends of the communities.
Empowering doesn’t have to go in hand with power. Empowering means to give a sense of assurance to others, so that others would trust and willing to work with the organization. I believe that many women especially in Singapore are not hard-core feminist. They’re not soft, sweetie pie and not at all, they’re a nuisance or hindrances to the community. The “power” of women in society is their respect and trust from everyone through daily performances. They’re really good with matters of the heart. They’re more emotional, but they’re also more tolerance. For many years, its women’s kindness that melts heart of many people and make it a more pleasant and loving place for the community. Such empowerment is valuable and their role in giving a gentle touch to lives does make a difference.
Many women are having bigger and bigger roles in our community. Many are professionals, business ladies, politician, etc. We don’t see many hard core ladies around, even though there are some who are really assertive. Women, however, do not lose their assertiveness just because they’re gentler in nature. As mentioned, they deliver speech and ideas in a gentle, convincing ways and these are often reflected in their abilities and performances of their job. As a Chinese saying, “柔弱胜刚强” (gentle wins over the hard core), they’re certainly an initiator and follower who speaks their mind, yet with lots of gentle touch. Whenever one said, its women’s point of views, they’re agreeing that they women are unique and have special roles which contributed to the society in their unique ways. It always takes two hands to clap and women give a really good “hi-five”.
Women have differences in background, education level, thoughts, personality, etc. They are also in a community that doesn’t give great restrictions to the activities they’re engaged in. I strongly feel that they may like to bring out the best to their abilities and circumstances they’re in. If we can see more ladies, dancing with joys and grace, it’s wonderful joy of happiness.
If we can see more ladies, helping in RCs, old folks home, it’s a wonderful feeling of initiative.
If we can see more ladies, working ladies, exercising their abilities in the working world, it’s a wonderful feeling of self-esteem.
These ladies contributed to the community in their unique ways. Who can banish their roles and responsibilities? As such, women may like to continue exercising their motherly nature, yet learning new things to enhance their skills. Life skills learning are as important to both men and women. Women may like to bring in new hopes, be more aspirating and determined to show their confidence in life with self-belief through learning and experimenting to generate new ideas.
Women’s future role to the society would be to play an even more active part in the well-being of community, to exercise their reasoning side and participating in more improvement. They may like to totally stand out to regenerate ideas, challenge them and find new ways to improve them. They may like to contribute more to the well-being of the community by reaching out to the less fortunate or rather just simply continue to give that special touch to others.
The leisure activities at CCs and RCs are important source of leisure for the housewives and older folks. More women should continue to invite interested parties to join the activities, so as to give comfort to more women and make the women community in the neighourhood, a really happy group that brings joys to more people. Through CCs commitments, these women are exposed to more ideas, information and in turns, more willing and have the abilities to make changes to the environment they’re in, contributing to the community more effectively. This comes, hand-in-hand, with women reaching out to women first and then to a greater community as I feel that it’s an exponential cause-effect to touch lives. More women should have the initiative, abilities and the wish to do this, provided they have enough resources and comfortable on their part.
With positive women, I strongly feel they would bring kindness to those around them especially their spouses and children. It takes much effort, but there are substantial efforts done and rather effective with lots of room for improvements. Family affects the community, community affects the family and women are a good source of spiritual support to everyone. Let’s WISH for women to build a brighter future for tomorrow!
Lee Jia Wei 13/12/2006
you took my love away;
4:38 AM
Up in bewilderment, He opens his eyes, Which he thought that exist, Deity power of healing, Yet falling into obsessive imagination of insanity. Casting himself away, Trashing himself in daze.
Down in blues, Overshadowed by blinding sunlight, He sees no light, just yet, without treatment, He sees no light, just yet, without the medication. Throwing his devil away,in dustpan of accumulated negativity.
Ups and downs, Making him a puppet with extremes faces, performing in circling thoughts, he gave his best to overcome his subconsciously written scripts, with willpower to stand, with nothing to hinder, he would stand to rule, the flexibility of the act.
