An afternoon at the Vietnamese amusement park

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We needed to remain in Saigon while Krysta was recovering from dengue which gave us the opportunity to go and see the city in greater depth. One of our stops was a theme park called Suoi Tien, essentially the Vietnamese Disneyland. While not the same in quality, it is the same in scale, and offered an excellent day of life-threatening cultural entertainment we will not soon forget.

It was beautiful, hot and sunny. We met our friends Mike and Nicole and drove our motorcycles the 40 mins from the place we were staying to the park on the outskirts of town. The entry fee was $6 and each ride cost between $.50 and $2.

The themes of the attractions were mostly Vietnamese history or traditions. There were limited English translations. It was still interesting to see the way their past is remembered, and to see thousands of locals at leisure.

Highlights were the rollercoaster of death and the crocodile farm. After spending the entire day walking around in the sun, Mike and Nicole lost their ticket for the parking lot and had to wait 5 hours for the owners of the bike to drive out with the necessary documentation. Brutal. Overall it was other-worldly, and we’ll let the pictures tell the story.

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Photos

Snap!
One of the smaller specimens at the crocodile sanctuary making a move on some food.

Entrance
A massive staircase with magnificent dragons on each side.

Signpost
These signposts could be found all around the park and directed visitors to the major attractions.

Handmade
The detail on the exterior of all the pavilions was impressive, especially considering they were all made on-site by hand.

Coke
The giant concrete can

Birth?
Depicting some part of mythological Vietnamese history. The room was quite dark with only the floating baby lit, then baby-shaped neon lights would animate the baby rising into it's mother's arms. Real creepy.

Pretty lights
A shutter speed accident that turned out pretty cool.

Smokey Buddha
The ever-present Buddha with the ever-present burning incense.

Kids
A group of school children on a field trip watching the live show.

Ferris wheel
Many years old, the baskets could barely hold 4 people. We felt our lives were at risk for the entire 15 minute ride. It did offer a great view of the park.

Rest stop
Every one of the approximately 50 benches was occupied with visitors relaxing or eating lunch.

The Snake
Every one of the Chinese Zodiac symbols were represented in a circle of 20 ft bronze statues. 1977 was the year of the snake, making this my animal.

Crocodiles
Hundreds of younger crocs lived in a compound at the back of the sanctuary.

Feed the Crocodiles
12 cents? Why not.

Too fast
A 15 footer takes a stab at the beef on the end of Mike's fishing rod. The crocs were essentially motionless, then would attack with unbelievable speed.

Swing of the Previous Century
Much like the similar ride at West Edmonton Mall, just older. Much older.

Good times
A monk very happy to be on the Swing of the Previous Century.

Waterpark welcome
The entrance. The huge face is the exterior of the complex holding the beginnings of the water-slides at the back of the park.

Waterpark welcome
We spent a few very happy hours frolicking in the water park. They had some exciting tube rides that were essentially unsupervised; every time you came shooting out the end you either landed on someone, or someone landed on you.

Comments

[Lily]

Fairy Dream
Grand to hear you guys are back on your (iron) horse after the dengue sidelining. Suoi Tien means Fairy Dream, which I have always found to be such a whimsical name. Good on you for braving the developing world roller coaster. You got way more cahones than me...