Experiences of a business trip to Korea.

Dong Nai delegation visited Miryang Hydro Power Plant

The time the delegation came to Korea was the most beautiful time in a year. It was the transitional time from spring to summer. The weather was as cool as that of Da Lat City. According to Korean people, it was the most beautiful month of a year not only because weather was cool but also because it had many important holidays such as Children day (May 5, it likes the International Children Day in Viet Nam), Parent Day (May 8), Buddha’s Birthday (on April 8 of Lunar calendar or May 15)

Our delegation arrived in Seoul in the morning of May 7 2005. It was a day before Parent Day. Thus, there were many people selling followers along the roads in the city center. It made Seoul more beautiful than usual. On this day, the offspring had to bring followers and gifts home or you could buy tibias of pig or cow. This was a precious and expensive meal in Korea. This was contrary to our country because tibias of pig or cow were very cheap in Viet Nam. Korean people thought that this was a good meal for older people. To send followers and gifts to parent does not mean that one has fulfilled their duties to parent. One has to take care of their parent when they are old and weak. There is one interesting thing in Korea that your salary will be docked once you are discovered not to take care of your parent.  

“Smokeless” industry in Korea 

Ticket fare to visit historical and cultural place and famous landscape are not cheap. One has to spend the average amount of 10 USD on visiting one of these places for one time. But it costs you 20 USD to go yachting on Han River.

Korea considers this industry as an important source of income.

Han River has a total length of 332 miles. It flows through capital city of Seoul. For many years ago, in order to construct the infrastructure of

A statue in a pavement of Seoul City

 Seoul, the sand of Han River was excessively exploited. But it is stopped now. To protect Han River, Korean government prohibits entrepreneurs form building factories along Han River’s banks and local residents from draining waste matter into the river. The violation will be severely punished. The government stocks the river with young fishes. On summer, local people usually go fishing along river’s banks. There are many yacht stops along the banks. These yacht stops are floating restaurants which gives more convenience to tourists.

We had a chance to visit a Miryang Hydro Power Plant in Gyeongsangnam province. It has 2 turbines with the capacity of 600 MegaWatt, 1.5-fold higher than that of Tri An Hydro Power Plant. It was built in the beginning of 1980s at the time Korea was begin its industrialization revolution. It was designed by Korean people and 70% of its devices were made by domestic companies. It allows tourists to visit its two turbines lying below the earth. Each year, it attracts about 120-130 thousands of tourists. It contributes a large amount of money to state budget. But the most important thing is that it helps to educate and widen the knowledge of hydro power to students. I think that the management board of Tri An hypro power plant and Dong Nai tourist company should apply this method as to enrich tourist places.  

A modern infrastructure 

overpass-bridges along Han River

The infrastructure of Seoul and Busan city (the second largest city in Korea) is very modern. The traffic systems are perfect. The roads are very large with from 3 to 6 lanes. You can hardly find a motorbike on roads because most of Korean people uses car. They think that you can’t have a girl friend if you don’t have a car. Korean people are very proud of their countries. You can see this on roads. 90% of car on roads are made by Korean Companies such as Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo, Ssangsong. These Korean cars are as good as Japanese cars. The roads we had passed are clean. Pavements are decorated with cultural and art statues which, unlike that of Viet Nam, requires much space. In some places, they are just small concrete block using as rest places for pedestrians.

The thing impresses us much is the road and overpass bridge systems. Mountainous are made up of 70% of Korea. In capital city, there are many peoples and not much land. Thus, they don’t need to clear away the residential zones along the river. They just build roads along river or overpass these zones. What they have and had done is good lessons for us to learn as to construct a modern and beautiful Bien Hoa City.

(According to Dong Nai Newspaper)