Crouching Dragon Hidden Tiger

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Dai Nam Park is situated about 40km away from Ho Chi Minh City. Opened in September 2008 it aims to be the leading tourist attraction by 2010. An optimistic dream, but even now even when it is still not quite complete you can see the potential. It is a huge complex with a hotel, shopping mall, open zoo, theme park, beach area and temple. Some say it looks cheap, but I found it to be a beautiful retreat and a good way to spend a day.

My journey began, as so many do these days, in Ho Chi Minh City near Ben Thanh market (well my hotel is there). I had researched the buses to Dai Nam Park (yes, I really did think about using public transport much to the amusement of some of the other Brits in the office). I knew where to get the bus, what bus to get, what time the bus was and how much it would cost. What I didn factor in was the fact bus timetables are not to be trusted. I waited for 30 minutes in the chaos of the bus station (it is literally a crowd of people who charge onto the appropriate bus when it arrives). Once I came to terms with the fact that the bus was not coming, I decided to get a taxi. Now the bus fare would have been under £1 while the taxi cost £20, but given the taxi was spacious and air conditioned while the buses, well, are not; I think I made the right decision.

The taxi ride to the park was quite pleasant. As we drove past various buses packed full of people I was further persuaded that I had opted for the most sensible mode of transport. Pulling into the Dai Nam Park complex is like arriving back in time at a fortress similar to the Great Wall of China.

The two main highlights of the park the buddhist temple near the entrance and the open zoo. The temple is a beautiful recreation but is used for prayer and worship all year. Built within a recreated landscape you feel as if you have travelled back in time. Although stunning on first sight, later in the day with the sun setting the change in lighting makes for a truely magical scene.

The open zoo is the only one of its kind in Vietnam. Rather than keeping the animals in cages, they are on small islands which prevent them from escaping while creating a more natural environment. As a result you are able to get much closer to the animals than in a traditional zoo. There are bikes for hire so you can cycle around the zoo rather than walk. It is easily walkable but if you are only there for the day and have other things to do in the park then the bike is a much more efficient mode of transport. All the usual suspects are here, giraffes, monkeys (some hanging from branches and urinating from height much to the amusement of children big and small), reptiles, deer etc. The main attraction though is the tigers. Now, before going to the park I did some research and became a little concerned by the amount of times the phrase "Tiger attack at Dai Nam Park" came up in Google. Reading further though it was just the staff not tourists. Despite this though the tigers were hidden away in cages and could not be seen at all which was a bit of a disappointment.

The beach complex (basically a giant swimming pool and wave machine) and amusement park (again all the usual suspects, roller coaster, water slide, haunted house etc) are worth visiting although I did not go on any of the rides in the amusement park and did not have swimming trunks with me.

The down sides to Dai Nam Park are the fact it is not complete yet. Much of it is still under construction and appears like a building site. There is little effort made to hide the incomplete areas so you could go from a beautiful temple to a muddy hole in a matter of minutes. Once it is complete sometime next year it has the potential to meet its objective of number one tourist attraction but for now it only really warrants a day trip.

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Comments

[deleted_140004]

nice
i am Lam, Ha Noi. I am guide in Ha Noi.if you go there, i am very plesant to met you