PREV

IEW Malaysia Journey Mid-autumn FestivalThere are different ways totravel from Vietnam toMalaysia. I chose to go toSingapore first by air ..more..

Lantern was another story.There was much less vari-ety compared to what wehave in the market ..more..

alkie alkie

Page 2 Page 5

Gas DeliveryCustomers are choosierday by day; and to increasethe sale, these three menmust take longer ..more..

Page 8

A TRIP TO MALAYSIA At the beginning of this year, I had achance to travel to Malaysia and Singapore.Since these two countries are relatively close toeach other in terms of history and geographicdistance, people usually choose to go to both atthe same time like me. I would love to share mytravelling experience with you and, moreinterestingly, some travelling tips you may finduseful for your upcoming trip. Because it isexhaustive to cover both countries in one issue, Iwill make it a series of three of which each will bedevoted to one destination. The first two issuesare about Malaysia which was also my first stopand the trip to Singapore will be mentioned in thethird one. Before getting into details, there are a fewinteresting facts about Malaysia. It is a SouthEast Asian country and a member of ASEAN likeVietnam. Its official name is Federation ofMalaysia which consists of thirteen states andthree federal states. Malaysia is separated into

two parts by the South China Sea and theyare Peninsular Malaysia located near thesouth of Thailand and Malaysian Borneosharing an island with a part of Indonesia.The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur akaKL. Its currency is Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)which equals to approximately 5,100 VND.Its time is one hour ahead of Vietnam. Theofficial language in Malaysia is Malay;however, English, different dialects ofChinese and Hindi are also spoken bydifferent population groups. The Malaysiantourism’s motto is “Truly Asia” which is saidto reflect a variety of cultures of differentAsian countries existing in Malaysia.

There aredifferent ways totravel from Vietnamto Malaysia. I choseto go to Singaporefirst by air andcaught a coach toMalaysia. TigerAirline seems to bean affordable choice

and if you can find a sale, you really get abargain like me. Iremember my ticketwas really cheapalthough I could notrecall the exact price(but please believeme, it was a realbargain). FromSingapore to Malaysia,a coach seems to be better and moreconvenient than other means oftransportation there. One of my friends usedthe train and she found it noisy anduncomfortable. Travelling time fromSingapore to Melaka and to KL took meabout 4 and 6 hours, respectively. I took theMalaysia map

Catching a coach

Flying by air with TigerAirline

Strait View Condominium,Johor Bahru, Malaysia

View of of place Stadhuys inMalacca.

Christ Church MelakaPhoto by Hannibal

Transnational coach since it had good services suchas air-conditioned and luxurious coaches, customdeclaration cards. More importantly, I did not need tochange the coach after finishing immigration check atSingaporean and Malaysian borders. I nearly forget totell you that Vietnamese passport holders do notneed a visa to get into Singapore and Malaysia.Usually you will be allowed to stay in each country formaximum 30 days (that sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?). The border area between Singapore andMalaysia, a city called Johor Bahru, was dead boring.At first, I was so excited to see a change but therewas pretty much nothing there. What you can expectis a change from a modern and bright Singapore to aduller and less developed Malaysia. However, do notlet this feeling spoil your day since Johor Bahru is justlike a rural area in Malaysia. Melaka (Malacca) is a relatively small citylocated on the western edge of Pennisular Malaysiaand on the south of KL. It is less developed than KLbut Melaka people are proud of the city history. Usedto be a trading port where traders from India, Chinaand other Asian countries arrived, the city has its ownkind of culture. Having also been ruled by the Dutchand Portuguese in the past, Melaka culture has beenstrongly influenced by these two as well. Sight-seeing is the best thing to do in Melaka.There are some places I visited and think that theyare worth seeing. One of them is the Christ ChurchMelaka. This church was built by the Dutch in 1753and is still being used now. The area around thischurch is beautiful because of its European style andnice construction planning. I really recommend you totake a lot of photographs here. From this church, youcan go uphill to another historical site called St Paulchurch. It exists only for the tourism purpose but thenice view of most of the Melaka city from here makesit score fame. Also from the Christ Church

Transnational Express Bus atKT terminal

Melaka, in the oppositedirection, you will go into aplace that looks like a Chinatown. There are a handful ofmonasteries and Hindi mosquesto see here. Although there is aheritage trail you can follow tosee all of them, you probablywant to see one or two of eachtype because they are verysimilar to each other. Another place to visit isProclamation of IndependenceMemorial. There are someremains of what used to bewatch-towers here and therethat are worth somephotographs. There is thePortuguese Square which isabout 20 minute travelling bybus from the Melaka Central.However, it looks more like ared light district to me and thereis nothing to see or to do there. Another highlight ofMelaka is a means oftransportation called “Trishaw”. Ireckon it is similar to a tuk-tukbut has no machine attached toit. It is better to rent one at nightand have the driver take youaround. Please be prepared tofeel excited and/or embarrassed(it depends on your type ofperson) because all thetrishaws are colourfullydecorated and the drivers willplay some kinds of funky musicwhen taking you around. I

remember the one driving mytrishaw always blew the hornwhen he saw other trishaws onthe street. It was funny andquite unique though. Lastly, how can wediscover a new place withouttasting some local foods? Myhunt for the Melaka cuisinestarted right on the night whenwe arrived there. My impressionabout Melaka cuisine may besummarized by one word“FLAT”. People here shouldhave developed an aversion tospices or their taste buds aremore sensitive than minebecause all the foods that Itasted were very flat. However,the signature dish did notdisappoint me that much. It wasHainanese Chicken Rice. Whatis special about this dish is thatthe rice balls are made bymachine. There are fried orsteam chicken for your choicebut I prefer the former one.There is a word of caution here:they put a generous amount ofgarlic in the rice balls, so becareful if you are allergic to it. That is only the first partof my trip and there are morethings that I would like to sharewith you. I am looking forwardto telling you more about mytravelling experience in the nexttime.

Hannibal

Trishaw, also known as tricycle rickshawor pedicab

Proclamation of Independence Memorial

Melaka CuisinePhoto by Hannibal

H e a l t h a n d B e a u t y

Every year, when school starts after a sunny sum-mer, gradual changes of weather come in the cool breezethat caresses my cheeks as I walk along the street. Autumnis coming. When I was a child, I used to look forward to thespecial mid-autumn festival just as my younger sister nowdoes. However, most families could not afford beautifullanterns which were considered luxurious at that time. This year, I no longer long for the day. Time passesso quickly. Looking at children making preparations for thefestival, I realize how much older I have become; yet in them,I can see the image of myself in the past. Sometimes I wonder if there are any other times inour lives when our dreams are as simple and innocent asthose we had during childhood. When you happily share thefestival with your family, when you've escaped from worriesand conflicts of life in the rope of a Buddhist monk, or evenwhen you’re homeless and spend your days on the street When I was a child, I spent this festive day in almostthe same way every year. I would stubbornly ask my motherto buy moon cakes and sweets which were not as deliciousand attractive as they are now, and which were usuallygrabbed and greedily eaten before the evening, before thefull moon could be seen. Lantern was another story. Therewas much less variety compared to what we have in themarket today, let alone fancy lanterns that were way out ofmy budget. I used to take a washing powder container

which was made of plastic and put a candle inside it, use a small string to give ita handle, and voila – my handmade lantern. Many lanterns of that kind spent thenight in the hands of children my age with their candles burning bright in the dark.But do you believe that they could ever light up our dreams? However, I had never seen a sign of happiness on my mother's face on thatday. Long after that, when I grew up, I found out that at times, to many people, themoon cake festival was something unnecessarily romantic, something that wasonly important to the children, who were still protected from the worries anddifficulties of life.

Nowadays, life is much better when we are provided with chances of en-tertainment and recreation. Mid-autumn festival has become a joyful time enjoyedby children and adults alike. Unfortunately, not all children are able to spend thisday in happiness. I think of children in areas suffering from the recent devastatingflood. How are they supposed to greet the festive season with the pain from theloss of their parents and the damages of their homes? This year, these childrenhave no chance to enjoy a night of candle light and light up their dreams like oth-ers in this country. Hopefully, they will soon overcome the pain and be able tocarry on and keep their dreams alive. Hopefully, the moon, a symbol of peace,will shine on our prayers and good wishes for a better future for the less fortu-nate. And may you, my friends, be blessed with a warm and happy festival.

Poinsettian

1

2 3 On August 8, The Ministry of Educationand Training announced the floor level pointsfor the university entrance exams. Specifically,13 points for group A (Math, Physics,Chemistry) and group D (Math, Literature,English), 14 points forgroup C ( Literature,History, Geography) and15 point for group B(Math, Chemistry,Biology). Floor levelscore is at least the onefor all universities in ourcountry to set the level points in order torecruit students; therefore, with such pointsabove, 500000 students nationwide no longerhave a chance to enter universities in 2008. Anumber of students achieving marks higherthan floor level points are 140000 (group A),25000( group B), 22000 (group C), and 37000(group D). In comparison with the level marksof the universities, those for colleges this yearare 3 points less and there are 220000 collegeapplicants satisfying this demand. In Vietnam,getting an opportunity to study at university isall students’ desire; hence, the entrance examis always considered to be the rat race andonly truly good students can pass it.

From August 1 toAugust 3 in 2008, aspectacular cultural festivalwas celebrated in Quy Nhonprovince with the title “Gatherand Develop”. During threefestive days, all local peopleas well as tourists were enjoying the truly excitingatmosphere of many activities held here. The festivalwas a sacred offer devoted to Quang Trungemperor_one of the most renowned kings inVietNam history and started with an impressiveopening ceremony with drumperformances and martial arts,retracing Tay Son farmers’uprising against Chinese Qingoccupiers. Besides, there aremany interesting activitiessuch as the Internationalcompetition of TraditionalVietnamese Martial Arts, the National Tuong(classical drama) Festival, the poetry night toremember two famous poets Xuan Dieu and HanMac Tu, the lantern festive night and the food and

drink festival to introducespecialities of the province, etc.Especially, one of the eventscaught a lot of attention is MissMartial Art pageant with an aim tohonor women’s beauty and martialtalent in Binh Dinh. And Bui ThiThanh Thao, a student from QuangTrung university, was crowned MissMartial Arts after passing three

rounds including performances in traditionalcostumes, martial arts costumes and a martial artsdisplay. Although Binh Dinh firstly held Tay Sonfestival, it has made a particular impression ontourists and succeeded in popularizing province’straditional values and attracting foreign anddomestic investments.

Culture: Festival in Tay Son, Binh Dinh Education: Floor level points for entrance exams

The past flash flood triggered by the tropical storm Kammuri was considered tobe the biggest one within 22 years in northern mountainous provinces, killing more than100 people and leaving many others missing and injured. In addition, the historic floodcaused widespread landslides, blocked lots of roads, damaged houses, swept awaycattle and destroyed thousands of hectares of rice. Four worst-hit provinces are LaoCai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho and Quang Ninh. Heavy rain and high river water levels broke a2800 meter stretch of dykes, submerging thousands of houses in Phu Tho province. A train departing fromHa Noi to Lao Cai due to flash floods was also derailed in Yen Bai, holding up two other trains. In the QuangNinh coastal, a building under construction was collapsed, killing a local contractor and six workers. Rescueand relief activities were carried out, bringing clean water and instant noodles to help victims in the floodedareas. Besides, many people and organizations donated money to help repair the serious damages afterfloods.

Society: Flash floods and landslides in Northern provinces

After the petrol price increased up to19000VND a liter in the last July, on August 5,it was rumored that the gas price was on theverge of being raised again up to 25000VND,or even 26000VND per liter. This fakeinformation made a lot of people in HCM cityand in some other provinces gather at the gasstations to fill up. At 12pm on Tuesday in BinhTan district, hundreds of people were

Petrol prices4

N E W S

5

queuing at the filling stations to buy gas and even some carried petrol cans forreserve. At around 3pm, the word-of-mouth rumors spread very quickly, suchcrowded scenes also happened in districts 5, 6, 7, 8, 10. Gas stations werecrowded till 6pm when the rumor was announced to be false. Few days later, theprice hike rumor was confirmed to start from two gas stations in Binh Huong Hoaward, Binh Tan district and authorities here were asked to join with police to find outthe rumormongers who will possibly face tough penalties due to causing marketunrest. Also in August, Ministry of Finance announced that the price retail of petrolwould be decreased from 19000VND to 18000VND a liter and this decision has

been come into effect at 10am on August 14. So within one month, the gas price has been changed somuch due to the effect of world market.

4

One of the mostoutstanding events inAugust is Olympic Gamesin Beijing, China. Afterseven years of preparationwith billions of dollars, theBeijing Olympic waslaunched at the spectacular opening ceremony inthe Bird’s Nest national stadium on 08/08/08-thenumber eight is considered to be very lucky inChina. The splendid performances of 15000artists and the colorful fireworks displays in thethree and half hour ceremony successfully

expressed preciousvalues of Chineseancient civilization aswell as introduced theimage of integrated andmodern China.Representative Olympicspirits are Fuwa serving

as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 OlympicGames. Fuwa embodies fourChina’s most popularanimals: the Fish, the Panda,the Tibetan Antelope, theSwallow and the OlympicFlame, carrying the bestwishes from China for thesuccessful Olympic. Sixteen days of OlympicGames was the duration of the fiercecompetitions of athletes coming from more than200 countries in many sports events such asathletics, football, swimming, judo, wrestling,gymnastics, shooting, badminton, etc. The hostcountry has made every effort to hold theOlympic Games successfully and significantly forthe purpose of promoting friendship,sportsmanship as well as world peace amongcountries.

Christine

Sport: Olympic Games in Beijing Nowadays with the blossom of technology,

people have more chances than ever to own acamera, in many forms (professional, compact, cellphone or even web cam). And as long as you have acamera in your hand, you certainly want to takeextraordinary beautiful pictures, don’t you? Despite thefact that I’m an amateur cameraman myself, I hope tohelp you by collecting various tutorials aboutphotography with the purpose of taking beautifulpictures of yourself (people call that “tự sướng”) orfriends, family, landscapes or pets… with the availableequipments. In this article, I will propose the importance oflayout in taking a good picture. Compare the 2 pictures

The first picture captures just exactly what itneeds; it looks OK but nothing special also. The second one shows you the depth of theframe, hence gives a more ‘artistic’ picture. Moreover, itsatisfies the famous “One Third Rule” (applied also tosculpture, architecture and painting)

So1. Let’s divide our photo layout (imagine it by

yourself) in 9 parts by 2 horizontal and 2vertical lines. These lines are called stronglines.

N E W S

(Continue One Third Rule)

2. The four connection points are called strongpoints.

3. All you need to do is to SHIFT your TARGET asclose as possible to STRONG LINES andSTRONG POINTS. Note that TARGET heredoes not necessarily mean the whole person orobject. It may be a beautiful eye, cute nose,wavy hair, whitening teeth… i.e any features ordetails that you want to stress theirimportance.

Here are some more well-taken pictures toillustrate the . By applying this tip, you’vealready set foot in the world of photography. Have funwith your pictures

Fanronaldo

After waking up at 6 in the morning, Mr.Dung packs up his stuff and goes to work as adistributor, representing a branch of Saigon PetrolCompany to deliver hundreds of gas tanks to smallretailers. The job may sound simple, butchallenges stay underneath.

His daily route can differeach day, depending on thenumber of destinations. While anormal deliverer usually rides abike with one to three tanksbehind his back to families who

order, a gas distributor has to drive a truckcarrying about 100 to 200 tanks to manyscheduled retailers. Going with him are two otherco-workers. Every morning, before gearing up, thethree men have to load the truck. Just imagine25kg each multiplies 200, then divide the resultinto 3, not to mention the second loading in theafternoon, and you will knowhow hard the job is.

Mr Dung has beenworking at this job for about 5years. Like any other jobs, adistributor is required to havespecific skills and knowledge.In the following interview, MrDung shares some background information.

- Interviewer (I): In youropinion, what takes the mosttime in learning to do this job?- Mr. Dung: It is theclassification of gas tankswhich is actually not very

familiar to many users. For example: Family (abrand, which stands for Gas for Family), VT, SP,BP, Shell Gas, Eff, UP, Picnic, Petrolimex, etc.There’s a huge variety that not everyone cannotice.

- I: Which one of them is the most used by family?

Normal deliverer

- Mr. Dung: Certainly it is Family.

- I: Can you give moreinformation about it?- Mr. Dung: The tank weighs12kg, while the liquid (inside)weighs 13kg. So in total, itweighs 25kgs. However, aFamily tank can be up to 45kg. InSaigon, people often use SP, Eff,Petrolimex, or Family while insome other provinces, a lot moremust be counted in.

- I: How can we compare thequality among them?- Mr. Dung: Quite hard to say.However, Saigon Petrol’s gasseems to be the standard one.You may consider the flame’scolor right after buying a newtank. It should be flat blue. Trynot to judge the quality simply byobserving the tanks, or thebrands, since all tanks are quitethe same, and brands can befaked.

- I: Why would you recommendSaigon Petrol?- Mr. Dung: SaiGon Petrol offersgood service. They collect tanksto check the enduring qualityafter the safety period expires. On visiting thewarehouse Mr Dung was incharge of, we were amazed bythousands of tanks stored inthere. Trucks are the only meanto transport tanks to smallretailers. In Ho Chi Minh City,

he said, the pickup truck load capacity can beonly 1 ton or a bit more, while it can be up to2.5 to 5 tons in provinces outside the city. Toload a 5-ton truck, it may take one hour ofthree men’s continuous work. “It can bedangerous sometimes, as you may hurtyourself while loading,” the men laughed, “weare hardly able to do anything else after work‘cause we’re all worn out.” “There are many famous branches ofGasoline Companies that people may notnotice, but indeed, we should know them,” Mr.Dung suggested. According to him, DaiQuang Minh is the strongest branch of SaiGonPetrol in SaiGon, and going after it is Tan HaiViet. Branches in Dong Nai & Binh Duonginclude Tan Quyen, Nguyen Khoa, Bao Anh,Sau An, and Huong Khiem. And what makesthem the solid retailers is the number of tanksthey store in their warehouses, which plays animportant part in their business.

About 2 years ago, the price was quitefirm, thank to the government’s subsidization.But now it fluctuates every month, dependingon the world market. Customers are choosier day by day;and to increase the sale, these three menmust take longer trips. “Sometimes we have todrive to Da Lat city, 300 km from our houses,to deliver tanks. The distance is so far; butonce the order comes late, we got complaintright away. We drive back and forth withoutstopping, just an hour for lunch, two timesloading the truck with 5 tons each time,” theylaughed the tiredness away, “we won’t be abledo this blue-collar job in the long run, forsure..”

Nevertheless, they admit that they willhave to stay with the job at least for the nextfew years. It’s a must to them, though it’stough, to earn a living these days.

Jenny

Many thanks to our contributors—----------------------

Editor TeamMs. Thanh Thao

Ms. Nham T. NgocMs. Thanh TrucMs. Minh Chau

—----------------------Freelance Writer Team

HannibalPoinsettianChristine

FanronaldoJenny

Your contribution is highlyappreciated. Unluckily, I have no medalto grant you. Perhaps some ... candies?

Credits

WT Edition Contact:Website: www.watavn.comEmail: WT.Edition@gmail.com

Mr. Heart

Photos: All photos which are usedin the magazine are eitherprovided by freelance writers ortaken from websites as following:Vietbao.vnImageshack.usVnexpress.netDalat.gov.vnXitrum.netPhotospot2004.blogspot.comTinhte.comNetfiles.uiuc.eduThisisworld.comFreefoto.comFarm3.static.flickr.comAnd many others.

Birthday Note We’d like to send ourbest wishes to anyone of us,who was born in August. Letme say: Congratulations! Ok, let me sing a songfor you, as my gift ...