Official journal

fcs24a — 2024-12-16 12:00:43 UTC

Day 1 - first day

before i meet Chef kevin and mr Bryan at the airport terminal 1 row 6 at 3:40am, i went out early to eat breakfast at macdonald's in terminal 2.

Our flight ticket stated that we are going to Saigon (ho chi min city), the former capital of Vietnam, we boarded at 5:55am and sat on the plane around 6:20am.

While the plane was in the air on the way to Vietnam, i took photos of the beautiful sky and the views of the historic landscape of the mekong river from the window view.

There were many houses scattered around like a pebble and slowly, the land was filled with houses and skyscrapers which was the former proud capital of Vietnam, Saigon (Ho chi min city).

As the mekong river reflects the sunlight, we landed on the airport.

We went to the gantry and waited for hours as there were long queue for the passport to be approved to let inside the country.

After going out of the airport, we waited for the guide to reach to us and lead it to the bus.

We went to a cafe to eat brunch, the food was Bánh mi, Typically short baguette with thin, crisp crust and a soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with meat and savory ingredients like a submarine sandwich and served as a meal, called bánh mì thịt. Plain bánh mì is also eaten as a staple food. After brunch, we went to the vietnam war museum to see the history of conflicts. 1 hour later, we went to the supermarket to buy drinks and went to Victory hotel.
I like the hotel as it has air-con and bathtub.

Evening, we went to the ben tenh market to see what the shops has to offer and headed to a small restaurant to eat pho, a Vietnamese noodle dish consisting of rice noodles, broth, meat and fresh herbs such as scallion, cilantro, and onion. Pho is served in a thick ceramic bowl when the broth is still boiling hot, and is sided with some fresh basils, bean sprouts, and a lime wedge. I tasted it for the first time, it was nice especially the soup.

After that, we went back to the hotel to sleep for the next day.

I had experience familiarity and nostalgia places as the city were similar to Krung Thep (Bangkok) in terms of Raod structure and architecture area. Perhaps Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar shares a similar cultures of big roads, motorcycles and markets but different tongues.

Day 2

8.45am, we board the bus to Cau ke District which is a 2 hour long ride.

Forward to 2pm we landed in cau ke town, in tra vinh at the southern side of vietnam. We stopped at the Inn and the room was big, i was surprised that there was an air con at the inn.

Then, we went to eat at the local coffee shop and we were eating chicken rice. It was nice and there was even a dog from the coffee shop walking and meeting the customers shyly.

Then we went to vicosap, the home to a exotic fruit "Macapuno".a specialty only in Tra Vinh, because it cannot be propagated in many other areas, that characteristic is also one of the conditions that make the price of wax coconut quite expensive.

I get to tasted the exotic fruit and it has a coconut taste but it has a specific texture.

After that, we went to the centre where we are going to teach local students hospitality and businesses.

We were briefed by Chef kevin and Mr bryan of what we are about to do for the next day.

Eventually, we went to a coffee shop to eat Pho once again, this time the noodles were different than yesterday. The noodles were laksa noodles rather than a soft rice noddles. I liked the texture of the laksa noodles.

Then we went back to the Huynh ky hotel and sleep.

Day 3

I woke up at 6am and i showered and went down to the lobby to meet Chef kevin. The breakfast was Banh mi and then we board the bus to the cente.

At the centre, the students arrived and they settled down at the level 2 centre and my group taught them the basics of resume.

I helped them write down the resume on the computer and it worked smoothly.

Despite the language barrier between english and Vietnam, i used google translate so that the students could understand what was going on.

It was fun to know the vietnam students.

Then, we took a long break and prepare for the afternoon class.
This time, it was primary school kids and we have to think of a game idea. Our game idea was drawing, hands untangling and charades. At the same time, the children took a liking to me as i decided to chase them around which they are very energetic. Some people who are naive to think that i am a pervert but i don't care about them giving false rumours about me. All i know is that i did a right thing and i made a fun memorable for the kids to remember.

Forward to evening, we at dinner which was rice, kang kong, soup and braised pork. After i finished eating, i waited for the bus to go to the supermarket.

Then we headed back to the hotel and sleep.

Day 4

Same routine as day 3, i woke up at 6pm and went to eat breakfast that is burger with eggs.

We taught new students and i did house work duty such as mopping, cleaning and arranging tables.

I brought back the cardboard boxes to prepare Saturday carnival game.

Day 5

The last day of service learning, i taught new students to create their own resume.

It was raining heavily, but we managed to continue the service learning.

Then, i did some housekeeping and we went back to the hotel to prepare for carnival games.

Day 6

We started the carnival games at 8am, i had set up my golf course game.

After the golf course game, i had to pack up the things and the golf clubs to donate to EVG.

We went back to the hotel and rested for 1 hour and prepare our tradition costumes.

Then one hour later, we went back to the EVG centre to do tree planting.

6pm, We wore our traditional costume and i wore a Japanese outfit which was an odd one out as everyone wore chinese, malay and Vietnam outfit.
We did the dance and soon, we all gather around the camp fire and it was hot and fun all night. Everyone was enjoying and screaming in joy.

Then we all sing together and finally we went to eat dinner which consists of all sea food that i enjoy.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and i have to pack up my things to check out 6.30am tomorrow.

Day 7

We went to the mekong river and admire its floodplains and tributaries support huge collections of unique flora and fauna including, critically endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins, the world’s largest freshwater fish, the Giant freshwater stingray, giant turtles, Mekong giant catfish, waterbirds, and Siamese crocodiles.

We arrived at an island where they have bees to harvest honey and we tried the local's pure honey. It tasted more natural and it was nicer than the factory made honey.

Then, we took a picture with the snake hanging our necks on, it felt dry and cold on the snakes' skin.

We ate lunch and went back to the main land which we are going to the shopping mall, vincom.

We ate dinner at a Singaporean restaurant named the daun restaurant.

After that, we went to the shopping mall to buy things and we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Day 8 - last day and the wrap up

We went to the independent palace where it is the most historical place in Vietnam where the fall of saigon and the unity of the socialist republic of vietnam. It felt like a special place where the people lose their life and fought hard against the american troops to unite as one country and they kept their nationalism tall and proud...

Then, we went to eat lunch for one hours, i enjoyed the food and finally we are head off to the airport.

In the airport, there was a flight delay and we waited until 8:45pm to board the plane.

Once arrived to Singapore, we took a group photo together and we returned to home.

What i had learned for the past one week is that, i learned to communicate with the locals and spend time knowing them, i helped out housework and enjoyed cleaning the floor.

For that, i would like to thank Jackie, Marcus, Yang for being a local guide, Chef Kevin and Mr bryan for taking care of us.
All my best,
Low yong jun (HC5241A)

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