Weekend on the Road

Hopping on my motorbike and going somewhere else always sounds like fun to me, so last weekend I went to Tay Ninh Province, north of Ho Chi Minh City sticking up into Cambodia. One thing I never learned to like about Saigon is that it takes like an hour of driving through traffic, in most any direction, before you get somewhere that looks like countryside, where you can breathe the air and hear things other than traffic and karaoke joints. In any case, after awhile you get out of the city and the driving gets more fun.

Probably the most famous place in Tay Ninh, with a firm position on the tourist routes from Saigon, is the Cao Dai temple. I am no expert on Cao Dai, but clearly somewhere in the code is something like “Thou shalt paint everything hot pink, baby blue and sweet corn yellow.” The temple is a riotous presentation of color, dragons, and all-seeing eyes. Apart from the visually arresting aspects of the temple, the music they played during prayers was fascinating. The religion is syncretic, the three main saints are the founder Ngo Van Chieu, along with Sun Yat-Sen (Chinese nationalist leader) and Victor Hugo (French author).

Nui Ba Den is a classic Asian mountain destination experience. I was remembering the first mountain that I climbed in China – the crowds of people, the squawking bullhorn-toting tour guides, the concrete steps going all the way up the mountain, bare flourescent bulbs hanging everywhere, the rickety cable-car option, the trail lined with plastic chairs and ramshackle shelters selling drinks, snacks, incense, palm-reading, knick-knacks and the omnipresent coconut carved into a monkey. Nui Ba Den was not so crowded. It was, however, raining and getting dark so I neglected to go to the actual top of the mountain. Shh, don’t tell anyone!

Khu du lich Long Dien Son, nearby, provided a bunch of animal statues, a lake with paddle boats, and a good cup of coffee. The road home was nice, came by Hồ Dầu Tiếng where you can get a nice hammock for buying a glass of sugar cane juice, went past a lot of rubber forests which always fascinate me, and eventually made it safely back to HCM through the hour of traffic to my house!