Sunday, August 05, 2018

The View from Above - The Black Virgin Mountain

The Black Virgin Mountain or Núi Bà Đen in Tây Ninh Province of Vietnam is the highest peak in Southern Vietnam. The hill is actually an almost perfect cinder cone of an extinct volcano (which gives it its distinctive shape) and is a popular tourist spot. You can take the gondola up the hill and then opt to take the more exhilarating luge ride back down. The upper gondola station gives you a lovely view of the plains below.

View from Núi Bà Đen, Tây Ninh, Vietnam
View from the top station of the Núi Bà Đen gondola lift.

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Timeless Charm of Bà Thiên Hậu (Thien Hau Temple) in Saigon

If you are in District 5 of of Saigon, do make it a point to see the Thien Hau Temple there. Officially known as Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu (Pagoda of the Lady Heaven Empress aka Mazu), the temple is quintessentially Chinese in architecture. Whilst there are many Mazu temples elsewhere around the world that are bigger, or more grand, this temple is unique as it has that old school charm typical of Chinese diaspora temples.

Ceramic roof decoration at Thien Hau Temple in Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
 

Look at the roof ceramic diorama, the altar decorations and setup, and donation slips being hung in the temple, and you get transported back in time to when the temple was possibly the grandest ever built at that time in that area and was the focal point of the Chinese community in Saigon. Indeed this is one of the many temples that carries the timeless charm of old Saigon, Vietnam.

Temple decoration in Thien Hau Temple, Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City

Slips bearing names of donors at Bà Thiên Hậu temple in Saigon, Vietnam