THE GROUPINGS FOR THE TRIP

The groupings and their respective chaperones have been finalised as follows:

Participants, please remember to submit your passports to your chaperone by the date(s) mentioned during the briefing.

FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 2013

"Xin Chao!" This date shall be remembered not only as being another day closer to our departure for HCMC, Vietnam but also as the day where participants received their trip Handbook and Journal, group T-shirt and back-pack,........

...... as well as their introductory "crash-course" on Vietnamese, conducted by Nancy.

Participants then hosted and accompanied their parents and family members at the pre-trip briefing session conducted by Tony, the representative from the travel agency, and Gongshang's Mdm Sarifah, the trip Officer-in-Charge.

A big "Cam On" to all parents and family members for taking the time to attend the briefing, showing keen support to our programme and working with Gongshang to give your children, our students, another memorable experience in their time with the school.

Photos courtesy of Mrs Corrine Koh

ACTIVITIES THAT WE CAN EXPECT TO TRY OUT

As part of our cultural immersion, here are some activities that have been lined up. 

First-hand experience in paddy planting

Catching fish by hand and team-work

Horse-cart riding

Photos taken from a previous trip to HCMC by a Gongshang delegation in Nov 2012.

THE HOTEL THAT WE WOULD BE STAYING IN

That would be Oscar Saigon Hotel, details and photographs of which are appended below.

Oscar Saigon Hotel (formerly Century Saigon Hotel), a four star international business hotel,
is of French colonial style architecture which has been recently renovated.
Its eleven floors offer 107 rooms and suites  - bookandpay.vn

Oscar Saigon Hotel is located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City's main business,
tourist and commercial area and within walking distance of the city's major restaurants,
banks, airlines offices, tourist attractions  -  waytosaigon.com

GETTING TO HCMC, VIETNAM

We will be flying by Singapore Airlines (SQ) for this trip to HCMC. The aircraft would likely be a Boeing 777-200 (twin-jet). 

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image72           

The distance between Singapore (1^o 22’ N, 103^o 45’ E) and HCMC (10^o 46’ N, 106^o 43’ E)  is about 1,079 Km or 671 miles and flight time would be about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The time difference between Singapore and HCMC is – 1 hour, i.e. HCMC time is behind Singapore time by 1 hour. Hence, when it is 6.00am in Singapore, it is 5.00am in HCMC.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SIA172

TAN SON NHAT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

We are scheduled to arrive in HCMC via Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is the largest airport in Vietnam. It is located 6 km north of the centre of HCMC.

The airport operates from two terminal buildings - Domestic Terminal 1 and International Terminal 2. The latter opened in September 2007 with a capacity of 8 to 10 million passengers per year.

ITINERARY FOR OUR TRIP TO HCMC, VIETNAM

The itinerary for our 4D3N discovery-adventure is appended below. These are also found in the trip booklet that participants must remember to bring along with them, as the booklet contains trip-related activities that have to be completed over in HCMC, Vietnam.

PRE-DEPARTURE INFORMATION

Here are some important pre-departure information for participants and their family members to take note of. These can also be found in the trip booklet that will be given out to all participants, on or soon after the Briefing to Parents of Participants on Friday 25 Oct 2013.