The Most Beautiful Experiment

 

Quantum physics informs us that a system exists in superposition — that is, in all possible states — until we observe that it is only in one specific state.

 

According to a 2002 poll of Physics World readers, the “most beautiful experiment” in physics is one that simply and elegantly demonstrates how observation affects quantum systems:
 

The double slit experiment. The double slit sets aside causality, determinism, and the notion that reality is “out there” as it blurs the line between the observer and the system being observed.

In the double slit experiment, a series of single photons (light particles) are fired at a solid plate that has two slits. On the other side of the solid plate, a photographic plate is set up to record what comes through those slits.

The question: What will we see on the photographic plate? The answer: If one neglects to observe which slit a photon passes through, it appears to interfere with itself, suggesting that it behaves as a wave by traveling through both slits at once.

But, if one chooses to observe the slits, the interference pattern disappears, and each photon travels through only one of the slits. The formation of the interference pattern requires the existence of two slits… But how can a single photon pass through two slits simultaneously?

At that point, we are forced to consider each photon as a wave that travels through both slits… Or we have to think of the photon as splitting and going through each slit separately — and wondering how the photon “knows” a pair of slits is coming. The only solution is to abandon the idea of a photon — or any other quantum system — as having a location in spacetime until it is observed.

https://theobservereffect.wordpress.com/the-most-beautiful-experiment/

Rise up bright and early as you will have a full day ahead of you; filled with an exciting adventure exploring the islands of Karah and Bidong. Your coach will pick you up at 8 am before departing for Merang Jetty. An hour later, we will be heading out to Bidong Island by speedboat.

A short 45 minutes’ boat ride away, the island used to be a sanctuary for over 45,000 refugees—mostly Vietnamese Boat People who fled after the Communists rose to power. The late 70’s saw Cambodian refugees escaping to the island to escape from the Khmer Rouge regime.

We will first tour the village left behind by the Vietnamese Boat People and then enjoy a scrumptious lunch by the beach. Once you have had your fill of good food, it is time to venture out into open waters and snorkel to your heart’s content.

We will head out by boat and snorkel in the waters around Bidong Island and later, Karah Island. Take this opportunity to delve into the marine world and observe dazzling corals, stunning fishes and an entirely alien ecosystem. Enjoy as much as you can before heading back to Kuala Terengganu at around 2.30 pm. USD 128 Per Adult. USD 67 Per Child

https://www.adventoro.com/products/bidong-island-little-saigon

The Bidong Island (Malay: Pulau Bidong, Terengganuan Pula Bidong) is one square kilometre in area and is situated off the coast of Terengganu, Malaysia in the South China Sea.

 

Bidong Island is accessible from the coastal town of Merang in Setiu district. From 1978 until 2005 Bidong Island was a refugee camp with a population of as many as 40,000 Vietnamese refugees.

On 30 April 1975, the Vietnam War ended with the evacuation of the American Embassy and the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army. Millions of people tried to flee the new Communist rule in Vietnam.

In May 1975, the first boat with 47 refugees arrived in Malaysia from Vietnam. They were called “boat people.” However, the number of boat people fleeing Vietnam was relatively small until 1978. Bidong Island was officially opened as a refugee camp on 8 August 1978 with 121 Vietnamese refugees.

The capacity of the camp was said to be 4,500. Another 600 refugees arrived in August and thereafter the arrival of boats from Vietnam was a near daily occurrence.

 

By January 1979, there were 40,000 Vietnamese on the island and by June 1979 it was said to be the most heavily populated place on earth with about 40,000 refugees crowded into a flat area hardly larger than a football field.

The passage from Vietnam was hazardous and the refugee boats were small, overloaded, and often attacked by pirates. Thousands of refugees died at sea; rape and abduction of refugee women was common.
 

In addition, the governments of Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries discouraged refugees from landing on their shores. Refugee boats were often pushed offshore or towed to Bidong and other designated camps.

Conditions on Bidong were difficult. One visitor, Leo Cherne, called Bidong "Hell Isle." Refugees crowded onto the island "lived in makeshift huts two and three stories high made of salvaged timbers from wrecked boats, plastic sheets, tin cans, and corrugated iron sheets."

 

Latrines and wells were inadequate; tropical rainstorms sent rivers of filthy water through the camp; all food and clean water had to be imported from the mainland. Water was rationed at one gallon per day per person. Doctors were abundant, but medicine was in short supply.

Sanitation was nearly non-existent and hepatitis was rampant." But the refugee population was well organised and many small businesses and an efficient food and water distribution system was set up.

 

Aid organisations such as the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and many non-governmental organisations assisted the refugees.

An international volunteer staff of medical personnel tended to the refugee's health problems. Immigration officials from many countries visited the island to interview refugees for resettlement abroad.

The arrival of new refugees to Bidong and other locations in Southeast Asia decreased after June 1979. A Geneva Convention held in July 1979 resulted in Vietnam agreeing to restrain the flow of refugees and the Southeast Asian countries agreeing to take all those who came to their shores provided that the Western countries guaranteed resettlement for the majority of them.

President Jimmy Carter raised the quota for permitting Indochinese into the United States from 7,000 to 14,000 per month and other countries followed suit, especially Canada, Australia, and France. The population of Bidong began to decline as refugees departed for resettlement abroad.

By the time Bidong was closed as a refugee camp on 30 October 1991, about 250,000 Vietnamese had passed through or resided in the camp. With the closing of the camp, the remaining refugees in Malaysia were repatriated back to Vietnam.

The refugees strongly protested their forced repatriation. A total of 9,000 Vietnamese were repatriated between 1991 and 28 August 2005 when the last refugees departed for Vietnam. In 1999, the island was opened to tourism. It has regained its former pristine beauty and many former refugees have revisited their old home.

After the departure of the refugees, the Marine Research Station of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's was established on the island. The station has living quarters and laboratories for students and researchers to study marine ecosystems.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bidong_Island
 

Malaysia Travel Blog
Bidong Island
by Lamvi Dao, Rosli Mohamad, and Ghani Ibrahim

In Malaysian, Pulau means island. Bidong island is belonged to Malaysia. At one time, this small island housed more than 40,000 refugees and only a tiny portion of its south side was used.

Tourism Terengganu - Pulau Bidong - Geography - It is located in the northeast of Kuala Terengganu city and Merang town. It can be reached by boat for approximately 40 – 50 minutes.

Early years - On August 8th, 1978, Bidong was officially open to house refugees. From 1978 until 1991, the island was mostly home to Vietnamese refugee Boat People, who escaped Vietnam to flee Communists.

In the late 70s, Pulau Bidong was also home to Cambodians, who tried to flee the Khmer Rouge regime, Chinese-Vietnamese, who tried to escape Vietnamese Government.

Housing - In 1978, Malaysian Government and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) started to use Bidong to house mainly Vietnamese refugees. In the early years, people lived under the trees, tents, or anything they could find to avoid the tropical hot sun, rain, and storms.

As years went by, Malaysian Government, Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) and UNHCR organized the island into a more orderly conducted. It had longhouses, hospital, schools, clinics, temple, church, coffee shops, post office, vocational school, and refugee owned shops like bakery shops, tailor shops, fruit stands, small markets etc. At one time, there were up to 40,000 refugees lived in the designated area, which is rounded by the white line.

Food - In the early years, food was scarce but eventually food was much more adequate: plenty of instant noodles, condensed milk, green bean, sugar, chicken, fish, and vegetables. In 1990, due to excessive supply of instant noodles, that were wasted, each person was given 5 packs of instant noodles per week instead of 7 packs.

Bidong had so many fishes around the island. They were also a main source of food to the refugees. There were at least two Malaysian owned grocery stores, that carried many other goods. Boat People owned mini grocery stores and city live market were popping up quick as well.

Fresh (drinking) water was always an issue, which had to be transported from mainland by boat. We called it Supplied Water. As people would stay longer for screening, this was the case for who arrived after March 14th, 1989, many wells were dug by the refugee to be used for bathe, cooking, and farming.

Security - Malaysian Police Task Force was organized and did excellent job to protect people from getting hurt such as illegal fishing, illegal wandering into the mountain for wood, crimes, and order. Jail like Monkey House was established to jail those who violated the island policies.

Later, they set up Security offices in each residence zone along with the main Island Camp office, which refugee people were voted or appointed to help out order, nightly patrol, and security of everyone.

The forbidden area covered 90% of the island. Only the small portion of the south side was used for UNHCR offices, and refugee housing. March 14th, 1989 - To stop waves of boat people, who kept leaving Vietnam, the UNHCR posted March 14th of 1989 as a closing date for “automatic acceptance to the third country”.
 

For those arrived the island after this closing date, they had to go through screening processes, which they must proved that they were political refugee and not economical refugees. They were also given three chances to prove their political status.

 

Due to this screening process, over 9,000 refugees were repatriated back to Vietnam from Malaysia because they were not qualified for political status. However, majority of these repatriated refugees were again given another chance from Vietnam by the UNHCR and most of them were granted asylum in third countries, thereafter.

Also, for those arrived after March 14th, 1989, they spent longer time on Pulau Bidong until it was closed down in October, 1991 and Sungei Besi Refugee Center in Kuala Lumpur. The average time was between 2 – 3 years. However, some of them would spend more 10 years in hopping to “pass” the screening. Unfortunately, some of these long time residents were repatriated to Vietnam.

School system - There was one Elementary school, one High school, and many English schools were built in each zone, A, B, C, D, and F, and a vocational school. In the early stages of vocational school, there were English classes to prepare youths and adults for resettlement.

 

Besides these English classes there were trade classes such as carpentry, auto mechanic, and tailoring courses. However in the late 1989 more trade courses were offered – business studies, hairdressing, and nursing.

Cemeteries - There was a large hill on the right side of zone C beach , which was used for cemetery. This site was maintained until the last days. There was also an older cemetery site, which was up on the mountain. It could take up to 30 minutes to reach the site from UN offices area. There were about 40 graves under a large water tank.

Next to the these graves, there was also a small hermitage with paved yard. Lamvi used to come up here to get cakes that were left behind by the worshippers. This cemetery might not be known to many people. There were also marked and unmarked graves scattering around the island. They were mostly in zone F.

Entertainment - There were plenty of entertainments and activities available to the refugees. However, these were not available in the early years. In the late 80s, a musical stage was set up next to longhouse B15. There were regular music festivals performed by the refugees and Malaysian musicians as well as UN, MRCS, Police Task Force personnel.

Soccer was a big thing on the island At one time, the island had up 24 teams to compete for soccer games. There were two divisions: adult and kids. Rattan ball game (sepak raga bulat) was also getting popular. We learned it from the Police Task Force personnel, who were excellent players.

Boy Scout was a very strong organization to keep kids active with all kinds of outdoor activities. Beside Boy Scout, the Buddhist temple and Catholic church also had their own group to keep the kids active and learning.

While many activities were available to kids, the adults did not have much fun besides volunteering for office works such as security, sanitary, post office, schools, and others.

Along zone C beach, there were two large coffee shops. These two shops, Club and Happy, were the top spot for adults, who were mostly young men. Only soft drinks like 7 Up, Coke, Pepsi…and cakes were available. From here, anyone could have perfect view out to the sea and the Shark island. Sometimes, dolphin were jumping not too far from shore. It was a view.

Next to the Food Supply cage and which was about a few meters from Sick Bay hospital, there was also a two story coffee shop and it had a name. This shop was famous for its ice cream and nightly Chinese and Indian movies.

Do you know? The beaches were the best entertaining spots on the island. Except for those hot afternoons, mornings and evenings surely gave you the most relaxing feeling. Alcohol was not legal on the island, however, some refugees were able to buy from fisherman or produced homemade wine with grapes, apples, and other ingredients.

 

Sometimes, we ran into a drunken guy, people would try to calm him to avoid detection from Malaysian Police Taskforce or Refugee Security personnel.

Sanitation - The island was clean but due to overcrowded population, it took time to clear out wastes. However, the air was very clean and we did not have any motorized vehicle except for Power House station, which provided electricity to the whole island.

Wells were dug throughout the island, where they shared the same source of wasted water and salt water. Well water was tasted salty. There were wells dug on the mountain, which provided must cleaner and fresher water. Its quality was suitable for farming and drinking but it was not a wise choice.

More and more modern public toilets were built with bigger pipes that run into the Jetty’s side, which was Zone A. In the early years, public toilet was your choice of anywhere on the island.

Due to overcrowding and waste, rat population was widely populated. The Sanitary Office gave our prizes for killed or trapped rats. Prize was either a pack of instant noodles, sugar, or the best one was a condensed milk bottle. Closing ceremony - Bidong was officially closed with a farewell ceremony on October 30th, 1991.

Present - There are proposals to turn Bidong into a vacation spot and/or museum but thing has been going slowly, which can be affected by political reasons: Malaysia has strong tight with Vietnam (and we are going to talk about this since Pulau Bidong site does not want to involve with political and commerical purposes.).

Without maintenance, trees outgrow old longhouses, schools, buildings, and many other structures. The weather also takes toll on structures like Catholic church once was filled with parishioners and kid voices. The Buddhist temple is still standing with the help of locals.

Over the years, more and more former Boat People visit Bidong to witness the place once was their home. The island is worth for an education trip for Malaysians like students to learn more about Malaysia history and the history of Boat People.

http://www.pulaubidong.org/
http://malaysiatrave-lblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/bidong-island.html

During the years of 1978 to 1985, Pulau Bidong was a symbol of ASEAN solidarity and hospitality by the government of Malaysia, as it accommodated refugees fleeing Vietnam after the war.
 

If once, it was the safe sanctuary of these refugees, today, after being abandoned for years, the island has nursed itself into a glorious haven for marine life! The island, situated in Terengganu, is about 1 square kilometre in area, with huge potential as a recreational and diving site. The beauty is beyond doubt.

The water is clear with visibility of more than 15 meters and many of the areas are untouched or under-publicised in comparison to other dive sites in Terengganu. Pulau Bidong and its six neigbouring islands like Pulau Karah, Pulau Gelok and Pulau Tengkorak have numerous notable dive areas.

The average depth of these sites are from 10 to 20 meters with the deepest being the one near Pulau Tengkorak at about 27 meters. The last is said to be one of the best sites available.

Man-made structures erected at Heritage Row area have now become homes and shelters to colourful marine life, adding to the amazing array of biodiversity in these waters. Need a dive buddy? Not to worry as turtles or Big Eye Snappers and many more reef fishes will happily accompany you around!

To get to the island, it takes 40 to 50 minutes by boat from Kuala Terengganu or Merang town. Easily book a tour package with a registered company (you’ll find plenty of them at the jetty) – these are about RM380 for a day-trip inclusive of lunch.

This October 6 to 8, Pulau Bidong will mark its name in the Malaysia Book of Records. YB Datuk Mas Ermieyanti Samsudin, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, will lead a group of divers in an attempt to establish a national record of the Longest Underwater Human Chain by Scuba Divers in Pulau Bidong.

In a press conference held at Bukit Kiara in early September, Datuk Mas Ermieyanti said that the collaboration would make Pulau Bidong known as a great dive site to the world. The organiser, Scubatex, said that the programme will see a targetted 200 divers attempt the biggest human chain by holding each other’s hands for as far as one kilometre. The excercise needs a lot of coordination, patience as well a bit of luck!

https://www.malaysia.travel/en/ay/places/states-of-malaysia/terengganu/pulau-bidong

Ingredients of the food rice paper include white rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, and water. The tapioca powder makes the rice paper glutinous and smooth. It is usually sold dried in thin, crisp, translucent round sheets that are wrapped in cellophane.

Conventional hydroelectric power is beneficial because it provides a reliable, clean energy source. It's considerably less variable than wind turbines, generation from which varies from day to day depending on wind speeds. Dams can dry up during times of drought but are generally reliable.

The San diu have a population of about 95,000 people inhabiting in the midlands of Quang Ninh, Hai Hung, Ha Bac, Vinh Phu. Bac Thai and Tuyen Quang provinces. They have other names such as San Deo, Trai, Trai Dat and Man quan coc (Man in shorts). San diu language belongs tn the Han Group.

The San diu engage in farming either in submerged fields and on a part of burnt-over land or river banks. They also practice animal husbandry, forest exploitation, fishing, fish-raising, tile-and brick-making, blacksmithing and basketry.

For a time immemorial, the San diu manufactured the nowheel quet cart drawn by a buffalo to transport goods. The way of carrying goods by pole uses only when they go to the market. The San diu's daily meals include steamed rice and poridge. They use weak poridge as refreshments.

The San diu have gradually adopted the Kinh's wear. It is San diu women's habit to chew betel and always bring with them a segment-shaped cloth bag to contain betel and a small knife to open areca. The bag is embroidered with many colorful motifs and the knife is protected by a wood scabbard engraved with many beautiful figures.

The San diu settle in each small hamlet. The house is built level with the ground, the roof is covered with thatch or tile and the walls are built by bricks.

Patriarchy is the rule of San diu family. The husband (father) is the head of the family. The children take the family name of the father and only sons have the right of inheritance. The parents decide the marriage of their children. although it still depends on the "examination of age" of the future couple.

The funeral is celebrated with many rites. Three years otter the burial, the dead is exhumed to take the remains to bury again in a final tomb. This is also one of the San diu's joyful ceremony.

The San diu worship their ancestors, the god of the kitchen, the genie of the earth and even the Goddess of childbirth. In a year, they hold many ceremonies such as before crop, after crop, new rice and rain praying which are related to the production. The San diu also worship Kwan Yin, Three Saints and their group founders.

The San diu's traditional folksongs are rich. They use to sing alternating songs (soong co) in their cultural activities and at festivals. They possess an unique treasury of stories, particularly stories in verses. The dances are always performed to serve funerals.

Musical instruments comprise horns, clarinets, drums, flutes, cymbals and castanets, to serve the religious ceremonies. Many games are much liked by the people including walking on sticks, game of sticks, badminton in San diu way and tuck-of-war

http://english.ubdt.gov.vn/vietnam-image-of-the-commtnity-of-54-ethnic-groups/the-san-diu.htm