Marcel Proust once said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” In line with this quote, this TOPS trip has allowed me to take on the role as a global citizen to make sense of what is in this world. Through fieldwork and documentation, rather than merely asking myself, “What can I takeaway from this trip?” which is such a self-centric perspective, I choose to consider, “How can I learn more about the Vietnamese culture in a non-intrusive manner?” Many people go travelling in other countries, but only a few are able to achieve the goal of immersing oneself in a new culture so well that one has a good understanding of it. Some tourists travel without a sense of higher purpose, as I found out during an interview with a local that they are disinterested in learning about their local culture. I may have been guilty of this myself while travelling to other countries in the past, but this trip has strengthened my resolve to travel with an open mind, as I will be able to unexpectedly learn so much more than expected. As Prof Melvin told us while on the mountain trek, the main goal is to “travel and yet leave nothing behind”. This was something which resonated with me, especially since my group’s research topic is ecotourism and we wanted to be good ecotourists too.

The visit to Hanoi University on Day 1 made me realize how important it is to have a solid plan beforehand. Although my group initially planned to interview Professors from Hanoi University about our Ecotourism project, we did not contact any professors beforehand. In addition, we only wanted to interview Professors with relevant specialisations. As a result, we realized that no suitable professors could be interviewed and we thus scrapped our plan. The fortunate thing about this was that the main bulk of our project was to be conducted in Sapa, rather than Hanoi which is the city area.

In line with this learning point, I also learnt the importance of flexibility and adaptability, during our focus group discussion with the tour guides on Day 6. Up till this point, all our interviews prior to this had gone rather well. Thus, we expected the same for this FGD. Unfortunately, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Our group was slated to interview during the last of the three time slots. However, when we were setting up our cameras and equipment, we realized that for some unknown reason, the cameras had a lack of storage, despite the fact that the data should have already been transferred out to our hard drives. Thus our FGD could not proceed as planned as some of our groupmates were busy resolving this issue. As a result, we hastily assigned scribers, interviewers and cameramen and began the interview. However, just 5 minutes into the interview, we were told that we had only 5 minutes left! Although my group was slightly shocked at this news, since the data from the FGD was very important to us, on retrospect, we handled this situation well and decided to ask the more important questions, leaving out questions that were relatively insignificant. While this might have been an unlucky situation, I would say that this was actually an opportunity for us to grow, think on our feet, and improvise given the circumstances.

On Day 2, my group managed to interview a hotel owner and a staff, while café hopping. From there, we found out that due to the influx of eco-tourists in Sapa, there has been an increase in hotels built around that area which has replaced the large paddy fields that used to occupy most of the land. This has greatly affected the livelihoods of those working in these paddy fields, such as the hotel employee. However, we are unclear about whether these people managed to find other jobs elsewhere. I see an irony in this situation—while they want to build hotels to attract more eco-tourists so as to generate more revenue, they have not been very successful in preserving their original natural landscape, which is the original purpose of these tourists visiting in the first place. From an outsider’s perspective, I feel that this situation could have been better managed. Rather than replacing natural environment with hotels and urban infrastructure, there could have been a smoother integration, through the collaboration between the locals and corporations. However, this is definitely easier said than done. Who am I to judge that these people are, after all, seeking better standards of living in a developing economy?

While interacting with Professors, a conversation with Prof KK made me realize that the hazy air and dusty roads were far from what I had expected of Sapa to be—lush green paddy fields and fresh air. This is the result of the presence of many construction sites as Vietnam is becoming more prosperous and we also realize that this is an impact of ecotourism in the inability to protect and preserve the environment.

As the Dean of HSS said, Vietnam is a composition of contradictions. I got to witness a multitude of things in Vietnam—the beauty of humanity and yet the existence of extreme income inequality, especially during the homestay. The host was extreme generous in her providence—from providing herbal baths, to cooking up so many sumptuous dishes for us during dinner, and ensuring that we were kept warm in the cold weather. The simple lives of the ethnic minorities, such as the Red Dao, reflects their level of poverty. However, there is simple beauty in their kind of lifestyle that a typical Singaporean like me would have never experienced if not of this, which is a lifestyle that is integrated with nature.

The most memorable experience for me is definitely the mountain trek, through which I learnt about perseverance. It was extremely tiring especially during some parts of the trek which were vertical climbs—looking back down was not advisable as it would merely accentuate my fear of heights/dying. I also learnt how to care for others even when the going got tough, such as sharing water with others and helping one another up the mountain. We also encountered some native girls who were collecting bamboo on the mountain and I was greatly inspired by their independence from such a young age—some were as young at 12.

Other than taking in the sights and sounds of the city, an impactful activity was the leadership training. It taught me to be more confident and to make prolonged eye contact when speaking to others, and taking the special effort to speak clearly to ensure that I made a point when conversing. I realized that this might be something that is perceived to be “simple” or unimportant, but actually plays a key role in shaping how people perceive me as a leader in the workforce in future.