VietNamNet Bridge – “I hope next time the Miss Earth pageant contest will be held in HCM City of Vietnam,” said Miss Earth 2006 Hil Hernandez Escobar.Before coming to Vietnam, what did you imagine about our country?
Miss Earth 2006 Hil Hernandez Escobar: I learnt some knowledge about Asia, typical areas of Asia, including Vietnam while I was at school. My knowledge about Vietnam is not much but before visiting your country, I learnt some information about your country through Miss Water Catherine and on the Internet. I know that Vietnam has many attractive tourist sites. I have had interesting days in HCM City. The friendliness of people here is wonderful.
Before coming here, I heard that a big bridge in your country collapsed, killing and injuring many people. That’s very sad. We have sought more information from our guide and we participated in a fund-raising activity at the tourism exhibition to help the victims.
How is your feeling about HCM City after two days?
Miss Earth-Water 2006 Catherine Untalan: HCM City has so many motorbikes, which surely impacts the environment. But I know that your city has solutions to deal with this current traffic situation, for example building new roads. I think it will contribute to changing your living environment for the better in the future.
Miss Earth Hil Hernandez Escobar: HCM City is a peaceful, safe and friendly city. Today we went shopping. Though it was short it was very interesting. On the way, the thing that surprised me was that your city has so many motorbikes, which is very different from our country, which only has cars.
I also know that your country is campaigning for the selection of Ha Long Bay as a world natural wonder.
Will you vote for our Ha Long Bay? During your trips to other countries will you campaign for the local people to vote for Ha Long Bay?
Miss Earth Hil Hernandez Escobar: Sure (in Vietnamese language), I’ll surely do it.
You said that you will return to Vietnam. When will you return and what will you do to help Vietnam in environmental protection in the role of ambassadors of goodwill for the environment?
Miss Earth Hil Hernandez Escobar: I’ll return to this beautiful country but I’ll come back alone, not with any organiser. I’ve asked myself why I have not done much campaigning about environmental protection. But now I am thinking of the task that I can do immediately: organising operations to advertise tourism of Vietnam and Chile. However, my ability is limited so I need the help of everybody here.
Miss Earth Singapore Nicole Chen: Next time in Vietnam I will launch a movement to protect the health of passers-by. Motorbike drivers in Vietnam need special gauze masks to prevent dust from going into their lungs.
Miss Earth-Water 2006 Catherine Untalan: I think we should diminish the use of plastic-made products because this material is difficult to recycle. For example, if you drink water in bottle like this, we should not use straws. Or when we go shopping, we should not use plastic bags.
What places in Vietnam will you go next time? Will you visit Ha Long Bay?
Miss Earth Hil Hernandez Escobar: Next time if I have more time, I will spend the whole time visiting your country.
Miss Earth Singapore Nicole Chen: It takes just one hour to fly from Singapore to HCM City so if I can, I will come here every month.
A question for Miss Earth Hil Hernandez Escobar. Apart from beauty, what makes you feel self confident and what points of yourself are you not satisfied with?
I’ve gone to many countries and learnt about them but I think I still lack knowledge. Nobody is perfect.
On this occasion, I would like to talk about the Miss Earth pageant contest that I won last year. The last Miss Earth attracted contestants from 90 countries.
I hope next time, Miss Earth will be held in HCM City of Vietnam. That would be a way for us to express our interests in this beautiful country. The workload is huge with contestants coming from dozens of countries and their assistants. But if you try, you can do it.
Source: Vietnam News Bridge
