Day 4 September 21

We got up earlier today to make sure that what happened yesterday would not be repeated. We left on time for Hatay province to visit the Asia Pacific Breweries Plant. The trip expected to be 2 hours, only took 45 mins and we were nearly an hour early this time.

Mr Duncan, the plant director brought us around the plant for a tour. He gave a very interesting on-site tutorial on the types of wheat/barley, the stages of brewing, extracting, fermenting, purifying, to bottling. He explained the decision of APB to invest and have their production plant in Vietnam, and even what type of beer suits the Vietnamese climate.

They again, have contributed back to Vietnam. All the spent grain are resold to the farmers to feed their livestock. Revenue generated by the sale of this spent grain are then reinvested into the agriculture sector such as granting subsidies to farmers or helping them buy fertilizers.

Next we visited Vietnam's place of attraction, the Temple of Literature. Funny thing is that Caahng's accent is so strong that most of us thought he was saying Temple of Richer-Richer. As mentioned in the past blog, the Vietnamese do have a lot of respect for their teachers. This section gives good insight of this Vietnamese trait.

The oldest university in Vietnam, set up in 1070 by the King of Vietnam, it was open to all students in 1076. The architecture is amazingly similar to those of the Chinese, which reflects strong Chinese influence in Vietnamese history.

Students of all provinces have to go through several provincial, regional examinations before going to the Temple of Literature to have their Imperial examinations. The top 3 scholars would have their names carved on these huge stone tablets with a turtle below it to symbolize longevity and eternity.

The 3 top scholars are granted posts in the government or can return back to their provinces to set up schools to teach. That is why teachers are so highly regarded in Vietnam. Those names carved on the stone tablets however can be erased by the King if they are caught being corrupted or do not contribute much to society. Therefore there is an onus to contribute back to the society. This is another reason why I realise that the Vietnamese are really patriotic. They always refer to Vietnam as "My Country".

Withing the temple itself, there is a room dedicated to Confucious. Students who pass the imperial exams would then kneel to him. There were 2 cranes flanking the entrance to Confucious' shirne. This was to remind the students the story of remembering your roots, or Ying Shui Shi Yan, which means that do not forget where the source of your water flows from.

Then there are the 4 animals of power. The Dragon, symbolizes power and prestige; the Phoenix, the female equivalant of the dragon, usually representing the queen; the Turtle, symbolizing wisdom and longivity; and lastly the Unicorn, representing happiness.

We then headed back to town to visit Hanoi Public University. I understand that this was a last minute arrangement so there wasn't much to write on, ALTHOUGH I must say that the visit to the school totally wiped out my perception that Vietnamese girls are submissive and docile. We were walking up the school, all 7 floors up to the main hall. And all the girls on every floor started to scream as we walked up. Some of them were so aggressive that they pushed their chairs and tables and even grabbed some of us to take pictures with them!

We went back to the center of Hanoi to visit the Ciputra International City. The project is similar to that of my fathers'. It is a gated community with incredible facilities. The houses are only available for Vietnamese ownership although the Vietnamese can rent it out. A lot of expatriates live in the town. In order to facilitate social cohesion, the management of Ciputra do organize events to promote different festivals and educate the children on different festive days.
After that we headed straight to Noi Bai International airport, where we begin our Ho Chi Minh adventure. We landed at Tan Son Nhat around 21:00 local time and we could feel the difference immediately. Ho Chi Minh so vibrant compared to Hanoi. The roads were wider, and shops were still opened at that time. Shops were brightly lit, and commercials were all over the buildings.

We checked into our hotel, right smack in the middle of town! The night market is just 2 minutes walk away from the hotel, how exciting. Got to our rooms, felt like a 5 star hotel. Internet facilities, cable tv, huge toilets. Civilization, Finally!!