11.10.2010 - Caodai and Cu Chi Tunnel Tour

We woke up on a gloomy morning in HCMC. Came back to stay at the same hotel before we left for the Mekong delta tour. As the Chinese saying, cheap and nice.

Opposite our hotel was this odd-looking An An Hotel jutting out into the sky. The reason being, land in HCMC was very limited and expensive. So, if you have no land to extend your premise sideways, you go upwards, of course. And so the 9-storey hotel rose up among a row of double-storey shop houses.

View from our hotel balcony. That Crazy Buffalo pub was a landmark in De Tham street. And those electrical wires would drive TNB electricians crazy.

Typical Vietnamese breakfast: pho with a large basket of vegetables (didn't touch any of the content), small table and chairs.

We took a 1-day tour today to visit the Caodai temple and Cu Chi Tunnels. Those places were out of town, and travelling independantly would be time-consuming, so taking a local tour was the logical choice. Only USD$8 per person, and free-of-charge for Ryan.

What on earth was Caodaism? (I always misread it as Keldaism). It was a religion made in Vietnam for Vietnam, combining teachings of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity. They believed that the many religions in the world came from a same god, but has caused much disunity. So the god of the universe chose the Caodai religion to reunite mankind. That's why macam-macam ada.

The HQ of Caodaism was this temple in Tay Ninh city, about 90km northwest of HCMC. 'Cao dai' meant 'high platform' in Mandarin.

Our guide Thomas explained about Caodai religion in front of the main temple.

Ryan riding the cute and colorful lion statues.

There were a few smaller temples surrounding the main one.

Ryan telling the story of the big fish that got away.

A worshiper getting ready for the noon mass. The Caodais have four masses each day, at six hour intervals.

Playing around in the compound while waiting.

Male worshipers waiting for the noon mass to begin. The guy in the middle looked a bit like Tok Guru Nik Aziz don't you think so.

Caodaism believed that god of the universe was symbolized by the divine eye on the globe.

Elaborately decorated chairs in the temple hall.

This uncle looked like a Taoist monk. Apparently the dress code signified which way of teaching the believers followed... yellow for Taoism, red for Christianity, white for Confusionism... something like that.

The worshipers entered the hall with full reverence.

The noon mass in progress. We saw only old folks mainly. Maybe the younger believers were away working.

Colorful wasn't it. Same color scheme as our Malaysian flag.

A bit of Islamic flavor too.

Tourists were allowed to view the mass, but from upstairs only.

The worship leaders.

The backup singers and the musicians.

The music and chanting sounded very repetitive... a bit like the music played during a Chinese funeral.

There was this painting at the entrance of the temple, depicting three saints signing a covenant with God. Guess who they were... Sun Yat Tsen from China, Victor Hugo from France, and Nguyen Binh Khiem from Vietnam.

From Tay Ninh we turned back towards HCMC, stopping at the famous Cu Chi Tunnels. It began to rain, but thank God the rain stopped when we reached the tunnels.

The tour in Cu Chi Tunnels started with a black-and-white video presentation, with the theme of cruel-Americans-and-brave-Vietnamese. In those days, the Americans based in South Vietnam wanted to stop of flow of communist support and supplies coming downwards from North Vietnam. So they bombed the forests and sprayed a herbicide called Agent Orange to wipe out the forests so that the communists had no place to hide. But they didn't expect the Viet Congs to outsmart them by building a 120km-long network of underground tunnels to launch guerrilla attack against the Americans. Clever!

Maybe the Viet Congs got the concept from the ants. Imagine surviving in such conditions for 20 years, gosh!

The original size of entrance to the tunnels on the ground.

Some entrances have been made bigger to accommodate orang puteh waistlines.

So big that even an elephant could go in.

Fake tunnels for little boys to play inside.

You wouldn't want to mess around with these booby traps.

There was a shooting range where tourists could play firing bullets from antique guns used during the Vietnam War.

Choose your gun.

Then buy the bullets.

Having very limited resources, the Viet Congs had to survive with many modifications. One of which was this Uncle Ho Sandals, made from tyres of US Army trucks that were destroyed. Simple, yet very durable.

Many sizes available, from baby-size ones for tourists, to Goliath-size ones to scare the American soldiers off. Looking footprint of those sandals, the American soldiers could not make out which direction the Viet Cong was going.

Then they were selling these beautiful war vehicles made from aluminium cans. Ryan was dying to get me to buy one.

Making friends with the Viet Congs.

Our nice tour bus.

These modern tunnels were much more fun.

Nice dinner to end the day. Italian food this time.

Beautiful

10.10.2010 - Third day of 3-day Mekong Delta Tour

The third day of our tour started with a very simple bread-and-butter (ok, cheese also got) breakfast in the hotel in Chau Doc. The French loaf is the kind of bread you would get in Vietnam, not the ones we have from Gardenia. It's very tasty on its own, and I think it keeps longer than our bread loaves coz it's hard and dry.

Had some free time before meeting up with our guide for the morning tour. Saw this guy doing BBQ by the roadside. Actually their BBQ was very tasty (dunno what secret sauce they used) and a popular accompaniment to a rice or noodle meal. But ah... the question is whether you dare to stomach the dust and dirt that landed on it whenever a vehicle passed. Or maybe those were the secret ingredients.

Hand-powered tricycle. Very helpful for war victims who lost their legs to landmines.

Ryan got to sit ship again. Our itinerary for the morning was a visit to 'floating village', 'fish farm' and 'Cham village'.

Floating houses. Really floating ones, built on wooden platform and tyres underneath. Smart, no need to worry about floods, and got a 'sea view' house all year round.

Not the kind of lodging if you have motion sickness. But otherwise it was a cool idea. Could move house anytime if got tired of staying at the same place... just hire a boat to tow your house somewhere else.

Ah so this was what the 'fish farm' about. Since the houses were on water, just add a net beneath and put in some fish, you would get live fish whenever you feel like cooking. Here Alex threw some fish food in...

... and the big splash came.

Those cat fish must have been really hungry. The tourists wowed and clapped. Neat trick.

They even have a pig farm on the river. Tahi babi terus masuk sungai. Hmm I would not try to imagine where the folks take their bath or do their washings.

As the boat approached Cham village, Alex told us that some Cham people actually lived on boats all year long.

Oh my! Living on that little boat all year long? So very cham.

The Cham people were remnants from the Kingdom of Champa. They lived a lifestyle very different from the rest of Vietnam, resulting in their isolation. The Cham people were Muslims, and looked very much like our Malays.

For a start, the rumah kampung on stilts.

Then the kids dressed in Malay costumes. Hey someone please tell UMNO or Perkasa, they might want to do a membership drive here.

The beam at the house marked the highest water levels each year from the flooding of the Mekong delta.

A weaver girl at work.

Shopping time.

Cham lady manning a souvenir stall.

Children pestering us to buy pancakes.

A mosque in the Cham village.

Children attending religious class.

The guys wore sarongs.

The Italian couple who used huge Canon dSLRs.

Chau Doc town viewed from the river.

The rest of the day was quite boring. We spent about 4 hours on the bus to go back to Can Tho for lunch and change to a bigger bus.

Yikes Can Tho city was flooded again. Gulped a quick lunch, then got into a big bus for another 3 hours drive back to HCMC.

It was Sunday evening. The motorcycle army was also heading back to HCMC for dreadful Monday, after a weekend rest in the countryside. Riding in the rain? No problem. Or rather, no choice.

A wonderful dinner to reward ourselves for enduring the 7-hour journey back to HCMC.

Would we do the trip again. NO.

The return trip from Chau Doc was long and tiring. Not worth the effort. A better way would be to go northwards into Phnom Penh, Cambodia by boat, rather than turning back to HCMC. Or just take a 2-day tour up to Can Tho, then base there and do some free-and-easy trips around Can Tho.

More importantly, travelling by tour do not allow you the opportunity to see the countryside upclose. The bus only stops at a few tourist attractions, and then end at a hotel in town. You do not have much time left to explore the countryside on your own. Best way I would say, is make use of the tour's comfortable bus and guide, but extend your stay when you're there. Rent a motorbike, or bicycle, and explore the streets and villages at your own pace, walk thru the fields, peep into people's houses, interact with the locals... eat some food at the roadside with extra dust. That would be really good.

With Ryan lazy to walk... no choice but to go by tour.