On our second full day in HCMC, we went on a boat tour of the Mekong Delta. After a couple of hours drive, we arrived at the dock to join the throngs of tourists going out for similar tours. As Murphy’s Law dictates, by the time we got there, it was raining torrentially (sideways), and the river was choppy and wavy. The trip across to a nearby island was rainy and windy; by the time we left in the afternoon, the rain had stopped and the wind had calmed. For the trip back, the boat’s life jackets were stored - I guess you only need to wear them in less ideal conditions!

We visited a honey farm (with a couple of pythons as pets), heard some traditional music and tried out some local fruit, including sapodilla, which no one in our group had ever had before. The last stop was at a coconut candy factory, which had both candy and coconut wood carvings, utensils, etc. for sale.

Coconut candy making -the long strips will be cut into small squares

The next day, we went in the opposite direction from HCMC, first to Tay Ninh, the Holy See of the Cao Dai religion. This is a completely Vietnamese religion, founded in the late 1800s. Containing elements of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, it also has a pope (the position has been vacant since the 1930’s). It recognizes Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, Lao Tzu, Victor Hugo, Lenin, Joan of Arc, and Shakespeare as holy people. The group was once a powerful political force, even supporting an army unit on the South Vietnamese side during the American War. Consequently, the group suffered some sanctions in the aftermath of the North Vietnamese victory. Today, there are still a number of followers in the south of Vietnam. Their buildings are quite colourful and distinctive, using blue, yellow, and red to represent the three founding religions.

The truly devout attend 4 services per day; most just attend the longer noon service, which is the one that our group observed. Members come in to the highly decorated sanctuary, seemingly arranged by level (there are about 58 levels in the faith). Musicians and singers stand at the back of the balcony, visitors stand on the balcony sides, and the congregants sit, cross-legged, in neat rows on the floor. The first half hour of the service consisted of singing and bowing down in unison, then what seemed to be the highest ranking man chanted prayers or scripture, and then set fire to the paper they were presumably written on. Soon after this, the higher ranking people left. The visitors were asked to leave the side balconies, as the singers and musicians relocated. As we left, the service was still going, with the lower ranking people gradually making their way to the front of the sanctuary.

Our driver took us to a place for lunch; when we got there, the owner introduced herself as a former Viet Cong fighter, who had been proclaimed as one of the heroes of the war. She showed us photos on the wall of her receiving her commendation from the Vietnamese prime minister, as well as an article written by a returning US war veteran, talking about his meeting with her. She was delighted to find out that our tour leader was a nurse in the US Navy during the American War. The whole thing was a serendipitous experience, and a good example of the Vietnamese philosophy of forgiveness and moving forward in action.

In the afternoon, we drove to Nui Ba Den (Black Lady Mountain). Geologically, the mountain is a cinder cone - an extinct volcano, rising from the flat Mekong Delta farmland surrounding it. On a clear day, you can see the ocean and into Cambodia from partway up the mountain.

The mountain has been a holy site for thousands of years, and has a pagoda partway up, and a monastery at the top. As with a surprising number of Vietnamese holy sites, it was also a strategic site during the American War. The American army had a signal tower and base on the tops, and both the South and North Vietnamese forces occupied parts of the mountain base and middle. During some research after our last trip, I googled the mountain - many of the hits at that time were from people on US veteran sites, “ I’m looking for information on my son (or brother, uncle, father, etc,). Last known location was Nui Ba Den.” There are a large number of Americans missing in action in the area, and at least 3 times as many Vietnamese.

Today, the mountain is a tourist attraction and pilgrimage site - loads of food and gift stands, cutesy animal statues around the base, and a gondola up to the pagoda partway up. The only people who tend to climb the uneven stairs to the pagoda are Vietnamese pilgrims. Oh, and Ken and me. The hike isn’t too arduous in itself (I mean, we’ve done the Burgess Shale hike), but the humidity meant that it was, as Ken said, “You’ve heard of hot yoga? Well, try hot stair climbing!” We actually ended up climbing higher than we needed to, since two roads diverged in a greenish wood, and we took the one less travelled by (because we couln’t read the sign posts!). We ended up in a little village, freaked out all the dogs, and then had to walk down to the pagoda. We SO took the gondola down. Hiking up provides you with some perspective and sympathy for those American soldiers - walking up carrying equipment, while people much more familiar with the terrain tried to kill you.

Right now, we’re on our way to our second city of the trip, Da Lat. This city is near the Central Highlands, where we’ll also be spending some time. Da Lat will be much quieter than the whirl that was Ho Chi Minh City. As I mentioned earlier, we spend very little time actually in the city 8 years ago, but quite a bit has changed since them. There are far more cars (new, expensive ones) on the road, more western chains (KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, etc.), and more evidence of wealth. The average Vietnamese income is about $1000/year, but there are definitely increasing numbers of wealthy people, many of whom live in HCMC. So, you drive past high-end household furnishing stores, clothing, and electronic stores in one block, and then past tailor shops, traditional craft stores, and “mom and pop” stores in the next. HCMC has also increased in area, with industrial parks and high-rise apartments or condos now appearing in what used to be farmland outside the city.

Currently, we’re hurtling down the highway in a sleeper bus (who do I speak to about getting these in Canada?) towards Da Lat, watching the foliage change from tropical to more deciduous and pine trees rising out of the red earth. The road is narrow and winding as we travel into the highlands, and as usual, the white centre line is just a suggestion. I think some of our group are regretting sitting at the front of the bus so they could see better. Some things are better left to the imagination.