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Tay Ninh
Tay Ninh is situated 95 km
north-west of Ho Chi Minh
city and is the original
home of the Cao Dai
religious sect. It is from
here that Cao Daism has
spread its influence onto
surrounding provokes. In
time past, this sect ran its
own army, as they had been
ruthlessly oppressed by Diem
and his regime. The Cao Dais
denied support to the Viet
Cong, and after
reunification, they were
punished for this
intransigence by the
confiscation of their lands
and temples which were not
returned to them until 1985
The central Cao Dai Temple
is 4 km from Tay Ninh in the
village of Long Hoa.
Surrounded by a series of
schools and administrative
buildings, the temple
contains an awesome array of
colors and symbolism unlike
anything else you will see
in Vietnam. Built entirely
with donations from its
parishioners, the temple is
built on nine levels and the
inside is lined with a
series of pillars with
ornate colored dragons
curling up them. The ceiling
of the temple is painted sky
blue and adorned with white
fluffy clouds, said to
represent the heavens. In
fact, almost everything
within the temple holds some
symbolic value. At the far
end of the great hallway is
a large brightly colored
globe upon which is a large
eye. This is the divine "all
seeing eye:, believed to
represent the creator of the
universe and similar eyes
can be seen lining both
sides of the building within
its lattice windows. The
temple always looks like it
has just had a new coat of
paint and is extremely
photogenic
Masses are held at 6 am,
midday, 6 PM and midnight.
It is worth timing your
visit to the temple for one
of these ceremonies as they
are quite spectacular to
witness. Men enter from and
pray on the right side of
the temple whereas women
enter from and pray left.
During festivals, all the
worshippers are dressed from
head to toe in white to add
a bit more formality to the
scene. The three colors you
will see are those of red,
yellow and blue which
represent Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism
respectively. If a funeral
is in progress, an icon is
placed on the central altar
for each of the deceased.
Although you are not allowed
in the actual area of
worship during prayer, you
are allowed in the foyer,
from where you can take some
great photos of the mass.
The Cao Dai do not mind
having their photo taken,
though it is always polite
to ask first
Cu Chi tunnels
These tunnels are a symbol
of Vietnam’s continual fight
against foreign oppression
and imperialism. The tunnel
system covers close to 200
km including under what was
once a US air base. The
tunnels once spanned an area
stretching from close to the
Cambodian border to the city
limits of Ho Chi Minh City.
They can be seen to
represent the Vietnamese
attributes of ingenuity,
loyalty, hard work and
determination. They were
originally constructed to
fight against the French in
the 1940s, to give a peasant
army a means of
communication between
villages whilst remaining
undetected. In 1960 the Viet
Cong repaired and added to
the tunnels to fight against
the South Vietnamese and
American forces. The
Commander of the American
forces in the region held
the opinion that the Viet
Cong who were responsible
for digging them were like
human moles. Although the
tunnels were mainly designed
with a fighting role in mind
they also contained a wide
array of chambers including
field hospitals, meeting
rooms and even private
offices and sleeping
quarters for senior
officers. To repel attacks
and infiltration, the
tunnels contained many
elaborate booby traps
including concealed pits
with bamboo spikes at the
base, and mines and
crossbows which would be
triggered by trip wires.
When you visit the tunnels,
your guide should point out
some of these traps, then
look back over your path and
try to decide how many of
those you would have
triggered. Some of the
tunnels went under water,
with a primitive S-Bend
effect where the tunnel
would open under the surface
of a river, this allowing
the Viet Cong to leave the
tunnels virtually undetected
Before entering the actual
Cu Chi tunnels, you may see
a screening of a propaganda
film about them that has
some amazing footage. You
will then be guided around
the tunnels by an English
speaking guide. You will
only visit some of the
tunnels which have been
preserved in a state not
dissimilar to how they were
during the war including
those areas used as a field
hospital, meeting room and
other official quarters. It
is also possible to fire an
AK - 47 on site for USD 1 a
bullet. The firing range
closes at 4.30 PM, whilst
the tunnels close at 5 PM
Saigon - Ho Chi Minh
City
Saigon, officially named Ho
Chi Minh City is a thriving
metropolis with an
unavoidable western
influence offering quite a
different experience to
Hanoi. Whilst Hanoi seems a
city to be savoured with
more traditions and obvious
traces of the red-tape,
Saigon catches up better and
faster with the best and
worst sides of "doi moi"
movements (renovation of the
country) following the
market economy rules. This
is commercial hub of
Vietnam, the industrial
muscle of the nation. This
is the rendezvous of
business people and
hustlers, whilst not many of
them carry visa-versus from
Saigon to other big cities
in Vietnam.
Towering developments start
to break the skyline as
multinationals fight for a
seat on a plane into the
country. Doi Moi and the
lifting of the crippling
embargo have opened the
floodgates to an unstoppable
torrent of foreign capital.
Now everyone wants to be
friends, after all, there is
a lot of money to be made.
After twenty years of forced
sedation, Vietnam is now
stirring but Saigon is wide
awake.
For many of the inhabitants
of Ho chi Minh City, nothing
has changed. The streets
still swarm with life.
People buy and sell things,
bargain, cook, wash, sleep,
eat, drink, and live on the
streets of Saigon. Despite
the large amount of money
being thrown around, the
filter effect is yet to
manifest itself and
thousands of people have to
survive on virtually
nothing. Cyclo drivers,
often unable to do other
work due to government
policy, earn next to nothing
and are still being punished
for being on the losing
side. As they bed down for
the night n their cyclo,
across the road at the La
Lai Hotel, the wealthy
Vietnamese are arriving in
their Mercedes Benz for a
night of indulgence
In one word, Saigon is
facing all good and bad
things caused by the new
movements of Vietnam. It
obviously promises lots of
interesting things to
discover, whilst remains an
exciting centre for shopping
and hanging around and
somehow remind you of its
one-time name "the Pearl of
the Far Orient |
