Advertisement
Published: April 17th 2011
Essentially Asian
while the wife works the hubby snoozes, when can we move there honey?We decided to take the BTS to the airport, which turned out to be a lot cheaper and quicker than taking a taxi and navigating all that Bangkok traffic. So after an uneventful journey, tired and hot we eventually arrived at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Madam Cuc 184, just in time for a quick wash and spruce up and join Joy and Paul for a few drinkees and dinner on the last night of their holiday. We became acquainted, once again, with a few very nice bottles of red Dalat Wine and at less that £3 per bottle (and that was restaurant prices) we went back to the hotel very, very happy. It was a lovely evening catching up on what Joy and Paul had been up to since we saw them last in Koh Pha Ngan. Unlucky for them the weather hadn’t been on their side, but let’s hope spring is in the air for them at home in the UK and France. Lucky for us we had a lie in the following day, but they were up for an early flight.
The following day we headed off to get a good look at Ben Thanh
Baby Dragon?
no getting smoked by this fella though Market, with the aim of using it to get as many pressies on the way back as possible. Looking good for the return journey. It's surprising how quickly you forget how chaotic the traffic is in HCMC, but after wandering around it all came flooding back and before long we were crossing the roads Vietnamese style (basically walk steadily and let the mopeds go around you).
The following day we set off for a long walk to the Botanical Gardens and zoo. It was the weekend, so I had to be very careful because every accident I have had on this holiday has happened on a weekend - well if you're going to do something just as well make it as difficult as possible to get treatment! Bearing in mind the last time I was in some Botanical Gardens I ended up needing stitches in my knee, added to the fact that here there were live dangerous animals, the odds against me getting out unscathed weren't good.
The gardens were established in 1864 by a French botanist and vet by the names of Pierre and Germain. The entrance fee was minimal and so a few hours walking around
Resting Rhino
well you would if you were 6 tons and it was 30 degs here would be a pleasure. It was very popular, with families, courting couples and just groups of young people having a good time. We weren't sure what to expect, we thought the zoo might be a separate entity within the gardens, so were quite surprised at the entrance to see lots of signs directing us to animal enclosures within the gardens itself. We were also a bit unsure as to what the quality of the enclosures would be like, time would tell. The gardens turned out to be very pleasant and probably once upon a time were more impressive, although now I think the emphasis is very much on the animals exhibited. And there are some extremely impressive exotic creatures kept here, such as White Tigers, Lions, Orangutan, Gibbons, Rhino, Giraffe to name but a few. We were surprised by the relatively good accommodation for most of them and it was certainly better than some we have seen (namely Adelaide Zoo), but a few left us feeling extremely sad, particularly the primates who obviously didn't need very much room for swinging around.
Probably one of the most impressive animals there (or maybe I should say two) were the White
Just a bit closer kid
the glass may crack soon Tigers. Enclosed behind some glass, one was obviously too hot and tired to do much but lay on a rock and gaze languidly at all the fast food walking by. The other, however, was obviously in a bit of a mood; cross or hungry who knows, but prowled up and down behind a thin sheet of glass looking longingly at the tasty appetizers on the other side of the glass and, no doubt, figuring out which one would be first on the menu if he could only figure out a way of getting to them. After a lot of snarling, much to the delight of the locals, who continuously knocked on the glass to wind it up even more, it made its choice and lunged at a little child carrying a pink balloon. Squeals of terror from the child brought squeals of delight from Chris as he thought the tiger might for a moment break through the glass and with a swift flick of its gigantic paw sweep the little tot up and into its glistening jaws. Slightly disappointed, when it only served to incite the locals to bang on the glass more, we left and headed off to see
the sad bit of zoos
when a beautiful orangutan has 1 sqm to live in some other animals.
The size of the enclosures seemed to bear no resemblance to the animals within them, as the Sun Bears had a huge enclosure but the Gibbons and Orangutans had small, sad concrete cages. With very little room to swing around they basically sat, gazing forlornly out at everyone. Unlike any zoo I have been too those visiting were encouraged to feed the orangutans and I don't think I have seen anything so sad as a beautiful Orangutan hold its hand out through its cage bars begging for food. Left a bad taste in the mouth.
As well as the animals on exhibit it appeared that we were quite a popular exhibit ourselves for some of the locals. We were stopped as we sauntered around by a few young girls, who had obviously been plucking up the courage to come and speak to us, and asked if they could film us for a school project they were doing. Absolutely flippin typical, looking like crap; rubbish clothes on, no make-up and old clothes and they choose now for my film debut - argh. Anyway film shot over and a few photos with the girls they left exceedingly
go on, make my day
not sure who he thought Chris was happy, but left me thinking it wasn't going to make me rich. Our second brush with the locals came as we headed off to the Giraffe enclosure. A chap approached Chris and asked if he would pose for a photo with his Dad (or could have been Grandad - Vietnamese not so good). So Chris posed for a photo shaking the old guy's hand, which seemed to make the old chap exceedingly happy. After they took photos it was my turn to take one and when the old chap realised I was going to take one, he puffed out his chest and gave us a big cheesy grin. Obviously made his day as well as ours.
After the gardens and zoo we decided to brave more traffic and head towards the Jade Emperor Pagoda just a few blocks away. Tucked down a little street, amongst shops and houses, we wouldn't have found it so easy without the directions of a helpful local who, just like a game of charades, frantically pointed whilst making praying signs. Luckily we have become adept at charades. The Jade Emperor Pagoda, or Chua Phuoc Hai, is a somewhat recent addition to the city's landscape
Hidden treasure
in the heart of Saigon having been built around 1900 by the Cantonese community. It is a lovely little building of delicate carvings and muted pinks in contrast with larger than life elaborate depictions of dragons and Taoist and Buddhist deities. The statue of the Jade Emperor which dominates the inside of the Pagoda is particularly impressive, with the best moustache we have ever seen. The statues seem large for the size of the small pagoda and with the drifting incense and praying devotees the overall finished product is crowded and chaotic but extremely cute with a very soothing atmosphere. It also gives you the impression that the building is older than its mere 112 years! The pond in the front courtyard was being re-filled so it was possible to get a good look at all the fish, some huge, and the array of large turtles that live in it. Hopefully our appreciation would afford us a bit of protection against the crazy traffic on the way back to the hotel!
The following day we were in religious mood again as we had booked on a trip to go and see the Cao Dai Great Temple and, not so religious, the Cu Chi Tunnels.
The main part of this tour was to the tunnels, but as we had already seen tunnels our main focus was actually the temple. The journey, in a mini-bus despite “honest guv you are really going on a big bus”, was a few hours and because we left early and the traffic was obviously quite good we arrived at the temple with about 1 1/2 hours to spare before the service began. Our guide then informed us that we would enjoy, oh yes we would enjoy, an early lunch. Well, sorry but we wouldn't be enjoying an early lunch at 10.30 am but wanted to go to the temple instead. This threw her into a bit of a tizzy and she eventually agreed, albeit with little good grace, that we could spend the time at the temple. But we would be bored she warned.
The Cao Dai Great Temple, or Cathedral of the Holy See, is another new addition being built in 1927 and the religion of Cao Dai incorporates mainly Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism with elements of Christianity, Islam and spirituality added in. Ngo Van Chieu, a civil servant, was the founder of the religion at the beginning
How can you
believe we would swap this beauty for another rubbish lunch of the 1920s, but it wasn't officially founded until it was recognised by the French colonial administration in 1926. Now, apparently, about 40% of the Tay Ninh District are followers. One of the really curious things is that one of the trinity they worship id the French poet and playright, Victor Hugo, really not sure how he fits in but weird works here.
The Temple was unlike any we had really seen before of this size. It was brightly coloured, with depictions of lotus flowers, dragons, snakes and deities; and this was just the outside of the building. It had three pagoda type towers; one in red, one in blue and one in yellow to represent the three religions incorporated in the Cao Dai belief. At the front entrance stood images of Cao Dai's first female cardinal, Lam Huong Thanh (whose remains are buried in the Mekong Delta where there is another large Cao Dai following), and Le Van Trung, its first pope (who is buried out back of the temple). Above the doorway those who enter are looked down upon by a large depiction of the Divine Eye (much like Lara's All Seeing Eye).
Our, still cross,
Gorgeous or Garish
it's all in the beholders eye guide had told us we could go in but had to walk around the outside of the nave and not pass through the pink columns. So in we went and were bombarded by a cacophony of colour. Green and red dragons twisted their way up pink columns which stretched to a star encrusted blue ceiling, with lions and turtles, and led to the altar which groaned under the brightly coloured vases and offerings of fruit. In pride of place behind all this was a big blue earth like object, glittering with stars and the Divine Eye. The whole building was a visual assault. One of the temple worshippers indicated to Chris to sit next to him to have a chat. Unfortunately with neither of them being fluent in the other language the conversation was short and confused, but it was really nice that he wanted to make the effort and we have found this warm welcome and interest each time we have travelled through Vietnam.
As we had gained some time we were also able to leisurely wander around the outside of the building and get a good look at the latticed windows, carvings and overall mix that makes
The high priest
and the naughty girl ..... this building very popular with the tourists. As we were wandering, just before services were due to start, some of the more colourful worshippers were starting to arrive. Most dress in white robes, but others don red, blue and yellow to signify the Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian elements. Whilst casually trying to catch one of these worshippers dressed in red on camera he signaled for us to take a photo of him; we couldn't believe our luck as our guide had told us not to do this. Not satisfied with this he then indicated we should each have our photos taken with him - happy days, and something else to hack off our guide.
Just before the service was due to commence we all traipsed upstairs and waited for the worshippers to enter the temple. Ladies dressed in white lined the left and men lined the right. Then as the chanting started the Priests dressed in red, blue and yellow, wearing tall hats with the Divine Eye, entered and everyone moved to face the altar. Obviously no chance of us understanding what they were chanting, but our guide had told us she couldn't understand it either, because it incorporated
Cao Dai Worship
but why a french poet? elements of Chinese as well as Vietnamese. In accompaniment to the chanting and music there was a lot of bobbing of heads from worshippers and flashes from the tourist cameras. Maybe not a very religious feeling us all snapping the worship, but luckily for them we were only allowed to stay for the first 15 minutes and then all the buses departed, leaving them to worship in peace.
After a swift (not really worth bothering about) lunch and another hour's drive with our cross guide and even crosser driver we eventually arrived at the Cu Chi Tunnels. Its location was the Saigon - Gia Dinh Regional Party Headquarters and Military Command and the tunnels stretched over an impressive 200km area, most of which is now filled in. The tunnels were created over three levels and had places to eat, sleep, cook and fight. It was an amazing feat of engineering and back-breaking willpower that created these tunnels which threaded across the area like an underground cobweb. Before our tour of the area and a chance to go into the tunnels we sat through a film of the tunnels which was something out of the dark ages, consisting of dodgy
Compact Cu Chi
even Chris's shruken bum couldn't get in here filming and some of very intense propaganda. The tunnels were small, originally too small for us large westerners, and it was unbelievable that these were used not only to transport weapons, but also for living in and fighting the enemy. The thought of meeting your enemy and fighting for your life in these circumstances doesn't actually bear thinking about. Some of the tunnels had been widened for us big people and a few went down, but still had to crawl in some places, before emerging thankfully into the open air. A couple of the guys had a go at shooting AK47s or whatever guns they had, but at about $17 for ten shells we resisted the temptation!
The guide didn't really perk up all the rest of the journey, since her plans for a long lunch had been thwarted, and the driver turned into crazy man as he needed to weave in and out of all the mopeds, because apparently we were likely to be late due to the change in timetable (was getting bored of being blamed now). Lucky for us we made it back on time, and for one family of four on a moped the driver
Room with a view
technically Madam Cuc was correct just swerved in time. An okay tour because we got to spend time at the temple, but would have been disappointing if we had followed the original itinerary of a very, very long lunch at 10.30 am and only 20 minutes at the temple.
We were off the following day for Dalat and some fresh, cool mountain air, but would be back in Madam Cuc's for the shopping spree at the end of our time in Vietnam.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0522s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
