15th of September, 2024.
Hitchhiking in Vietnam: Tay Ninh and way to Saigon
Whenever you cross a land border and enter a country, there will always be some people offering you transport services, either taxis, mototaxis or whatever. If you are real for hitchhiking, don’t be dubious and give them the benefit of insisting, just be straight and tell them “no, thank you!”, so they will leave you alone.
It takes nothing for someone to stop. As I entered Vietnam through Mac Bai border, the next town, Go Dau, it is in an intersection, and I need to go left, up to my first destination, Tay Ninh. The people who stop are a senior man and his son. I am actually quite surprised for the man to stop for me, and I know it sounds silly, but that’s just how I feel. He strikes me as a very serious and quiet man, and even his car tells that, plus because he’s a bit older, and I thought that perhaps older people in Vietnam would be a bit more conservative and reserved. I guess I was wrong, and that’s a good sign that hitchhiking in Vietnam will be awesome!
Walking around I see some people selling fried bananas and I am tempted to buy some. I resist! I had one of the best snacks in Cambodia, a fried banana made by our neighbour, and my host’s sister, and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Laugh.
Two men wearing working vests and with construction helmets in the back seat stop the car. My sign reads Tay Ninh and they are OK with that. I also tell them that I cannot pay and they seem fine. They are quiet serious too, but by the time they dropped me off at the pagoda I wanted to visit, just before Tay Ninh, I can see by their eyes and smiles that they are nice people. They could’ve dropped me off by the road, but they drove me all the way to the entrance of the pagoda. How nice!
The place where the pagoda is located is called Thiền Lâm Temple – Gò Kén. Even though is quite touristic, there is no entrance fee, and there’s a lot to see. The temple is very interesting, and big, all in dark wood with many carvings and some colorful statues. There are many outside areas to visit too, like smaller temples and stuff. There are two main statues, one of a lying Buddha, which is very nice; and the one by a pool, which is amazing! There’s a dragon with Buddha and I think it’s incredible! The whole scenario is nice, been surrounded by water, and small bridges which lead to inside the statue. I think it’s pretty cool! And there’s also a corridor with praying rolls, which is one of the most beautiful ones I have seen in Asia. Very photogenic!
When I am going to the toilet, thinking how starving I already am, and planning of how will I ask for left-overs in town, I pass by an area where people are having food. It resembles a restaurant but clearly it’s not. When I come back, I stand outside for a bit, observing, and it seems that they are serving free food. And they are! I cannot believe it! Wow! It’s fresh cooked vegetarian meal! Amazing! I have rice, green beans, vegetables stew, a delicious bamboo sprouts soup, and something which I would never figure the name but I think it’s a kind of dry pickle. I also filled my small bottle with water and now I am ready to go to Tay Ninh. Yay!
The reason why I came here is because when I was reading about Vietnam while in Cambodia, I got to know two interesting and surprising facts: 1) the majority of the people in Vietnam don’t have a religion; 2) there are quite a few followers of a religion I have never heard about it before, called Caodaism, and the most important temple in the world for it is located here in Tay Ninh, Tay Ninh Holly See is the name, and it is a Cao Dai Temple.
I am planning to walk there, as the “short cut” directions are through small roads and lots of turns. But once I start walking on it, I have the idea of hitchhike, as the temple is right at the centre of the town, so most likely people passing by here are going there.
The first car I make a sign to stops. It’s a Chinese family and they seem super happy to help. Angel, her husband and her young boy leave in Tay Ninh for a while now. She can speak a bit of English and her son is super interested in learning languages. He’s super cute! And I must say, the husband is a very charming man. Angel tells me that, if I need anything, any kind of help, I can just contact her, and we become friends on Facebook. I thought I understood that they would be going to Saigon tomorrow, so if I was staying in Tay Ninh tonight, which was not initially the plan but who knows, perhaps I could contact them and tomorrow catch an arranged lift. Her husband is very effusive about telling her to reinforce that if I need anything I should ask her. How sweet! They drop me off at the quarters of Cao Dai.
The quarters of Cao Dai? Yep! I am quite surprise on how massive it is. It’s not only the temple, the Holly See, no, it’s a large area, of many blocks, all connected in somehow with the Cao Dai Temple. It’s impressive, mostly when you were not expecting this, as I wasn’t.
To make matters worse, there’s a huge preparation to what will be a very important festival in a few days, so many streets are blocked for cars, some parts people cannot walk on the streets, it’s a bit confusing, as there’s a lot going on. The buildings are all gorgeous though, with incredible gardens! If it was not so sunny and hot, and I wasn’t carrying The Hulk, I would love to just walk around to take a closer look.
I manage to arrive to the temple, and as I see that a group of tourists is looking at from outside, clearly being told by their guide that they cannot go in right now, I get the message. When I ask some senior men standing outside at what time can I visit, in a slightly rude way they tell me 12 o’clock. I decide not to take their shit, as I was just asking a question, so I let them know that I didn’t approved their rudeness, and I am quite sure they understood. I seat in front of a garden across the street from the temple and I wait.
It doesn’t take long until a big group of Cao Dai people get out of the temple. Now I see what’s happening, even though the temple is big, due to the special festival coming, loads of followers are coming here (being the main temple in the world and all…) to pray and stuff, so there’s a huge queue of followers waiting to come inside the temple and pray. I can see them now, outside, just in front of the temple, across the street to, but under a covered area.
As they take turns to get in, foreigners also get inside, so I follow. Well, not inside inside per se, as we can not enter the actual area where they pray, but only the hall which preludes it. I am not sure if it is always like these and non-Cao Dai people cannot go inside at all, or if it is only due to the festival.
I still can catch a good glint of the temple, which is really gorgeous! And their way of praying is… let’s just say peculiar. I stay for several minutes, watching, and then I leave. Caodaism is a very new religion, a mix of three others: Christianity, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Even though I read something about it, I just don’t get why these new religions are created.
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There are quite a few other place to visit around Tay Ninh, but they are all outside the town, in nature, mostly viewpoints and mountains.
I drop off The Hulk in a hotel by the temple and decide to hitchhike to a viewpoint by the mountain Nui Ba Den. Now the thing is, there are many spots to check it out around this mountain, so they built a cable car to it. Shitty, I know, but what to do. Anyway, I get a lovely lady to give me a ride in her motorbike to an intersection. And she even wants to take me further but as I know it is not in her way, I don’t let her. Soon enough, another lady in her motorbike takes me too, but she brings me to the entrance of the cable car. At first, I thought that she misunderstood me, later on, I would get to know that the road leading to the top of the mountain is closed.
I got to know that by a young man who picks me up in his car a bit later, when I am trying to hitchhike there. He can speak English as he studied and works in a bank in Saigon for many years now. He is from here though, and right now he’s dropping his aunt at her home, his friend at his family farm, and then he will drive back to Saigon.
At his family farm, a huge place full of fruit trees, I eat some delicious local fruits, which I had seen a lot all around but had never tried. Ah, you know it, it’s lychee. He tells me about his family always wanting to work hard to earn more, and how now that they have a big farm, with people working for them and all, they cannot enjoy much everything they earned, as age is catching up with them. I tell him that he should not let that happen to him as well, and enjoy his life right now. I advise him to go travelling, to take a break and discover what he really loves to do, as he doesn’t like his job and has absolutely no time to do anything.
He tries to help me to find a pagoda to spend the night or simply a place where I can stay, but on the way to Saigon. As he will stop at the hospital to visit his mum before leaving to Saigon, he suggests I stay there with her, and he assures me it will be alright. I am not so sure. I message Angel on Facebook, to check if I can stay with them, and tomorrow we could go together to Saigon, to what she replies they are not going to Saigon tomorrow. For that reason, I decide to accept the young man offer and come with him to Saigon tonight. He even offer for me to stay in his apartment, so now I am all set and we take our way to “[…] um pedaço de Saigon…” Emilio Santiago, Saigon.
10 Years Around the World 