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Published: August 7th 2007
Eye ball
Cao Dai templeI hadn't seen the Cao Dai temple in Ho Chi Minh City when I was there, so I didn't want to pass up the chance to see the second most important one in Vietnam when I was so close to Da Nang. Cao Daism was founded in Vietnam in 1926, has several million adherents globally, and has at its core the concept of a universal god. With Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Tzu (Taoism) all in its saintly hierarchy, it's attempting to bridge religious and philosophical divides in a way that few other religions are.
Unfortunately by the time I got to Da Nang I was anything but angelic, courtesy of the scam perpetrated by my moto driver. He spoke good English, and we had agreed a price for him to take me to the temple, wait for 2 hours, then return. The first signs of trouble occurred when he turned off the main road from Hoi An to Da Nang and started heading towards a pagoda on the hillside. I asked him where he was going and he pointed to the pagoda. I told him to stop, and patiently explained that i) the pagoda was not the Cao
Dai temple, and ii) we weren't in Da Nang. I then showed him on a map where the temple was, and he laughed and said that was a long way away. I reminded him that that was our agreed destination, but he said it would cost extra to go there. Since I couldn't really do anything else, I agreed to the price but told him I wasn't impressed by his duplicity.
The temple itself was fairly basic, but the inside was dominated by a large light-blue sphere on which were painted stars and the unblinking Divine Eye. Paintings of the above-mentioned 5 famous figures promoted the notion of universal harmony. A "priest" gave some information about the place, including a pamphlet written in grammatically correct gobbledigook.
Back in Hoi An, the moto driver refused to accept the money I offered, saying that 2 hours was a long wait time so I should pay more. I pointed out that he had already changed the destination and the price from our original agreement, so changing the wait time too was a bit cheeky. I eventually slipped the money into his shirt pocket and walked away, disappointed. I guess one should
Prayer room
Cao Dai temple never let one's guard down ...
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Jean-Marie
non-member comment
never trust the Vietnamese!
hello after reading your blog on the Cao dai temple it has reminded me on how most of the time I felt about dealing with the Viet! they seem to just always want to rob you in some way and they always changed prices half way! just wanted to let you know that you missed the princital Cao dai temple which you can see a few pictures of in my blog. here is the address. regards and happy travels JMA http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-102292.html