HCMC Day 1 Reflections, Toby Gail Lim

EQ1: How is innovation a key feature of survival?
Innovation was one of the key factors that helped Vietnamese fight and survive during the war. Innovation can be seen from the traps, the structure of their hideout and more. The traps were created such that when someone steps into it, they are unable to escape, and most of the traps would cause the people who fall in to definitely die. This helped the Vietnamese to fight and decrease the number of enemies. 


The  Vietnamese also created their own hideout which is "underground". As the land is quite high, they have their different facilities below the surface. They also invented their own tunnels which is their way of transporting to the different areas of the hideout. Among the hideout there is also a way to escape by going to the river. Vietnamese also made use of their size. Because they are naturally smaller built than Americans, they made use of that and built their things smaller so only they could fit. Vietnamese also used innovation by taking the uniform of the Americans who died and placed it on themselves to camouflage. Thus when Americans see from afar, they would not be able to recognize the Vietnamese easily. The Vietnamese made used of the tire and made it into sandals, they wore it the opposite way so that they would mislead the Americans.
 

EQ2: How is cultural integration reflected in design?

The temple reflected three different religions: Buddhism, Catholicism and Confucius. All of these pictures within the temple and more have two purposes, one which is for design purposes, another is for their own beliefs. Thus, we can see the different aspects of each religion within every corner of the temple. On the ceilings, there was a particular area with three different animals together. Each animal probably represents one religion. There was also a flag with three different colours: red, blue, yellow. Each colour represents on religion. There are many structures that are inspired from the religion's beliefs, such as the eye within the triangle. The pillars were also carved and painting with pictures of dragons and more, which is also inspired from the beliefs of the religion.