When I booked my full-day tour to the Cao Dai See Temple and the Cu Chi tunnels, I was told to arrive at the tour office at 7:45am on Saturday.We were supposed to leave at 8:15am.Knowing that there was absolutely no reason for me to be there at 7:45am, I didn’t rush myself or stress about being late.But I still got there at about 7:48am!I sat on a stool in the hotel for a very long time.I had a conversation with one of the tour company guys about medical school in the US versus Vietnam, and he kept restarting our conversation with random questions.A Vietnamese man went by sticking Bibles in people’s faces and probably proclaiming the Gospel, and the tour guy turned and asked me what the most prevalent religion in America is.He was convinced that Catholics worship Mary, and while I think that some Catholics do practically worship her, I tried to explain that they pray to her but don’t worship her.He wasn’t convinced.
Meanwhile the clock was ticking away, and I continued to sit there.Around 8:30am I was escorted a few feet down the street to wait for the mini-bus.My tour company was actually just a desk in a small hotel, but the desk coordinates tours with an actual company.Several hotels work with the same company, so a handful of people got picked up at hotels scattered across the city.I finally got picked up at 8:40am, but by the time we picked up everyone else and started to head out of the city, it was 9:15am!
We drove in a 30ish pa*senger mini-bus to the Cao Dai Great Divine Temple.We stopped halfway to the Temple for a bathroom break at an artists’ workshop.According to our driver, a lot of the artists were injured from the war, from mines, or from Agent Orange, but none of the workers I saw appeared to be disabled.The artists were working on lacquer bowls and pictures, and they were beautiful.However, the prices were rather unappealing, and the pieces in the store did not look nearly as good as the ones the artists were making.
The drive wasn’t particularly exciting.We pa*sed a lot of rice paddies and small towns.I did see a wedding party under a tent!My family and I see weddings wherever we go.I hadn’t seen one yet this trip, so I was relieved to see one and continue the tradition!Later, our guide noticed a wedding tent and informed us that weddings are excellent events to crash.«The groom’s family don’t know bride’s family so they a*sume you with bride.Bride’s family don’t know groom’s family either so they a*sume you with groom.You eat lots of good food and drink lots of free beer and rice wine, and then you leave.Vietnamese weddings very good.» It was really funny.Our guide randomly said the funniest things, but the best part was that he kept a completely straight face and maintained the same tone of voice.
After about 2.5 hours, we arrived at the Cao Dai Temple, which is 4km from the town of Tay Ninh.The Cao Dai religion was founded in 1926 and is a combo religion.The beliefs seem to include elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and in the temple there are pictures of the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Shiva, and Krishna, as well as Victor Hugo, Chinese Nationalist Party leader Sun Yat Sen, and Vietnamese poet Trang Trinh.The hierarchy is largely based on the hierarchy in Catholicism, and they have priests, bishops, cardinals, and a pope.No one has been pope since the last pope, the religion’s founder, died in 1933.Our guide informed us that the goal of the Cao Daist followers is to have 6 billion members, or almost the entire world.Currently, they have somewhere around 5 million (that may be generously high), and 99% of those people live in Southern Vietnam.I would say they have a ways to go before they fulfill their goal.Their ambition is admirable, though.
There are 4 daily religious services, at 6am, 12pm, 6pm, and 12am.We got to the temple at 11:55am, and by the time I walked from the bus to the temple and took a couple pictures, the service was starting.When I first got in the temple, it was very crowded with tourists peering through the doors, but after about 10 minutes, the majority of the other tourists got bored and wandered out.The service wasn’t very exciting, but I enjoyed seeing it and taking pictures.A group of musicians and singers played hymn-like songs in the back of the balcony, and the followers sat on the floor in even columns, segregated by sex.Sometimes they would sing out or lay their foreheads on the floor, but for the most part, they just sat Indian-style.Their hats signify their different rankings, and the closer they sit to the front of the temple, the higher ranked they are.The lay followers wear white, and men with the rank of priest or higher wear colored robes.The colors signify the part of Caodaism with which the person most identifies; yellow symbolizes Buddhism, blue symbolizes Taoism, and red symbolizes Confucianism.
I’m glad I got to see a service.Caodaism is certainly an unusual religion.I can’t say that I see it spreading across the world, so this was probably my only chance to experience a service and see their highly unusual temple.I had to leave the service a few minutes before it ended because we had to be back at the bus at 12:35.The bus pulled in as I walked up, and since everyone else was already waiting, we quickly boarded and pulled out of the parking lot.
We drove 10km to a restaurant for lunch.The menu was very basic, so I went with chicken fried rice.It was possibly the best fried rice I’ve had in Asia.It was served with a giant egg on top, and it had a lot of big pieces of delicious vegetables.I wish I had taken a picture because it was very unusual looking.We were at the restaurant about 35 minutes, and then we boarded the bus again to drive on to see the Cu Chi tunnels.I realized as we were leaving the restaurant that it wasn’t actually a restaurant.I think our guide must have an arrangement with this family to bring his tours there for lunch every day.Before we had even pulled out of the parking lot, the family had already folded up all the chairs and cleared all the tables.They were in the process of putting the tables away as we left.
We drove 1.5 hours back toward HCMC to an area of the tunnels near the village of Ben Dinh.I didn’t know anything about the Cu Chi tunnels, so I’ll share a very short history.В The tunnels were first built in the 1940s by the Viet Minh, who used them during their war against the French.In 1960, the Viet Cong began repairing and expanding the tunnel system.The VC was able to build tunnels under «fortified» encampments of the South Vietnamese, and the tunnel system helped the VC win a number of strategic battles against the South.The US decided to send reinforcements to the area, but unfortunately, they built a base right over part of the tunnel system.Soldiers were killed in their tents at night for months before they realized what had happened.The US and the Australia had little luck combating the tunnel soldiers.Bombing, aerial spraying of chemical defoliants, and jungle bulldozing all failed, so they started sending in troops and then German Shepherds.The casualty rates were so high that those tactics were stopped pretty quickly.Only 6,000 of the 16,000 VC cadres who fought in the tunnels survived, but the US used a lot of resources and lost a lot of lives fighting them.
After we arrived at the tunnel site, we all bought our tickets and then trooped through a long corridor to have our tickets checked.We were given 4 separate tickets which were then stapled together.I thought maybe we were going to 4 separate areas, so they gave us 4 tickets to demark which parts we had visited.But no.The ticket checkers ripped off all 4 stubs at the same time.Seemed like a ma*sive waste of paper to me.
Our first stop was a 20-minute video on the American War and the usage of the tunnels in the war.It was so anti-American and propaganda-y that I actually started laughing.I was sitting next to the only other American in our group (I later found out that she lives in Chapel Hill, her dad teaches at Duke, and she’s a life-long Duke fan!), and we were both just shocked.Sadly, I can’t remember any of the quotes.It was also a bit horrifying because they showed numerous individuals, a few of them children, proudly reenacting their killing of Americans.
After the ridiculous movie, we went on a walk.We pa*sed a hidden entrance to the tunnel that is about the size of a person.You might have seen pictures of people posing in the h*le.They wouldn’t let us pose, though.
We also saw several exhibits of what Viet Cong soldiers would have looked like hanging out in the jungle.A US M-41 army tank that got stuck in the mud was on display, and we saw a huge crater from a B-52 bomb.Our guide shared some general information, but mostly I just remember his ridiculous comments, such as his definitions of «flirting» and «virginity.» Everyone was cracking up.
In the middle of the jungle complex is a large shooting range, and for $10-$30, you could shoot 10+ bullets from a wide-range of real guns.The noise was absolutely deafening.The people actually shooting got ear protection, but the rest of us had to suffer.I have zero desire to shoot a gun, and I certainly wasn’t going to pay $10+ to shoot one.I walked over and sat down in the waiting chairs, and I was immediately joined by the girl from NC and a couple guys from the Netherlands.The guys were very nice, and I was impressed by their politeness.They were having a conversation with each other, but because I was there, they spoke to each other almost entirely in English.At one point they switched to Dutch and then apologized to me for not speaking in English.I wasn’t even peripherally involved in their conversation!Their English was excellent, of course.
We continued on with the tour, and we saw several examples of traps.They looked brutal.It’s hard to see in my picture how sharp the spikes are, but they were seriously hard-core.After the traps, we finally got to go in a tunnel.They have widened the tunnels twice since the war to help visitors fit through.There’s a 100m stretch of the tunnels open to visitors, and there are exits every 25m.I think only about 8 or 9 of us made it the wh*le 100m.It was so tight and hot.I’ve never had a problem with claustrophobia, but I think that’s what caused most people to exit early.By the end, I was dripping in sweat and my legs were cramping up from squat walking.I wanted a picture inside, but I could see that the pictures of the guy in front of me weren’t coming out.I was too hot and cramped to put forth any effort to take a picture.I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the VC soldiers who lived in the tunnels, especially since the tunnels were actually much smaller back then!
We sat down at picnic tables and had a snack, but I can’t remember its name!В It was very starchy and reminded me yucca.I dipped a couple pieces in a mixture of ground peanuts and brown sugar that they had available, and it was pretty good.Before we tried the snack, our guide jokingly said that eating a certain part caused you to not remember things.I think that freaked a few people out because they kept asking which part we weren’t supposed to eat.
We all headed back to the bus and drove about 1.5 hours back to the city.The traffic was awful as soon as we got to the outskirts, but our guide said we made good time.I was dozing when I heard laughter and felt the guy next to me move.I opened my eyes in time to see a bride and a groom on a moto.She was sitting sideways holding her dress aloft.We kept pa*sing each other, and I did manage to get a picture.It’s a bit blurry, but it gives you an idea of what they looked like.Just for the record, I do not want to leave my wedding on a moto and then drive 45 minutes in traffic.
The number of motos is truly incredible.I see it every day, especially between 5pm and 7pm, but it was crazy actually driving through it.I know that it’s just part of their lives and they don’t have an alternative, but I hate seeing pregnant women and small children on the motos.It worries me!
We started dropping people off at their various hotels, and when I recognized where we were, I got off with someone else.My butt was very sore by that point, and I wanted to stretch my legs a bit.After stopping by my hotel, I left for the grocery store.I wanted to eat somewhere near the store, but nothing appealed to me.I went ahead and bough another 5L water and yogurt and figured that I would walk back to my street and find somewhere to eat.I ended up stopping at a very popular-looking restaurant where I ordered a banh xeo with eggplant.I remembered reading that banh xeo was some sort of pancake thing, so I decided to get it.The waitress didn’t know enough English to tell me what was in the traditional version, so I figured it would be safe to get eggplant.
I really really wish I had taken a picture of the dish because it was unlike anything I have ever seen.It was kind of like a really thin tortilla wrapped over on itself with half an eggplant in long strips, 3 shrimp with their shells, and some greens inside, but it didn’t taste at all like a tortilla.It’s so hard to describe!A huge basket of other various greens and some dipping sauces were served with the pancake.The waitress said that I should put pieces of the pancake in the lettuce and eat it with the sauce.I was only given chopsticks.I’m okay with chopsticks but certainly not proficient enough to eat that meal.I ended up using a combination of my fingers and the chopsticks.My fingers got very greasy and gross, and there were no napkins on the table.Here’s a very important lesson for traveling in Asia (and South America for that matter): bring napkins or paper towels with you.If you are given napkins, they are the size and thickness of cheap toilet paper.
The pancake was interesting.The eggplant was pretty bland, and since it was one long piece, it was very difficult to eat.I wish I had just gotten the traditional pancake, but eggplant is always screaming my name.The shrimp were good, but once I realized that they had shells and tails, I felt the need to peel them.Sadly, most of the pancake batter was stuck to the peel, so the shrimp weren’t quite as tasty as they could have been.В It was definitely one of the more unusual meals I’ve had in Asia, even if it wasn’t one of the most delicious.
Once I got back to my room, I watched some tv and read my book, and I tried to make a mental plan for Sunday.I’m glad that I went on the day trip, but I don’t think a visitor to Vietnam would be missing out by skipping the temple and the tunnels.They are both places to visit if you have plenty of time.
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