Start,
Day 14,
Day 15,
Day 16,
Day 17,
Day 18,
Day 19,
Day 20,
Day 21,
Day 22,
Day 23.
Day 24.
Phu My, Ho Chi Minh City
This was our second time in Phu My, the port for Ho Chi Minh City. On the trip to Hong Kong we visited Vung Tau from here, so this time we wanted to do something different.
Even though everyone, including internet searches, said there is nothing to see at Phu My, we decided to visit the nearby town anyway which was apparently only 15 minutes away.
We heard that there was at least a temple there and a market, so we hired a taxi for about two hours (400,000 dong) and headed into Phu My.
The drive there was interesting, in as much as seeing the local scenery of initially industrial sites, but also fields, shops and cafes.
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| Chemical manufacturing plant |
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| It's pretty industrial |
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| Our taxi |
The taxi driver took us first to the temple Dai Tong Lam Pagoda, (Van Phat Quang Dai Tong Lam Tu) which after entering the unassuming front gate we realised covered a large area.
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| Entrance to Dai Tong Lam Pagoda |
The pagoda was founded by Venerable Thich Thien Hoa (1907–1978),from An Quang Pagoda (Ho Chi Minh City) in 1958 with the aim of building a large-scale monastic complex here, eventually opening a Buddhist academy, gathering monks and nuns from all over to study and train successors to carry out the mission of propagating the Dharma and saving sentient beings.
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| Small older statues near the entrance |
The temple grounds encompass a vast area of nearly 100 hectares, and include the following notable structures, the main one being the Van Phat Quang Am Dai Tong Lam Pagoda which has two floors and has the largest main hall in Vietnam.
We drove past some small sculptures and then around a small lake dominated by white statues of the Amitabha Triad (consisting of the Buddha Amitabha and two Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara) and stopped near the main hall.
Although we had seen a lot of temples, it was actually nice to be in a relatively quiet space and we were not hassled by traders trying to sell us stuff.
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| The Amitabha Triad |
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| Mosaic covered guardian |
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| Detail of mosaic |
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| Entrance to the main temple |
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| Approach to Buddha pagoda |
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| Buddha pagoda |
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The largest monolithic granite statue
of Maitreya Buddha in Vietnam |
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| Statue |
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| Temple gong |
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| The Three Treasures Pagoda |
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| The main shrine |
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| Smaller shrine |
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| Garden of Buddha Statues |
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| Garden of Statues of the Nine Stages of Pure Land |
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| Detail of one statue |
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| Lady on electric tricycle |
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| Making fruit juice |
Our driver then took us to the local market which covered quite a large area, and rather than being a collection of ramshackle sheds, it consisted mainly of houses with shop fronts where people marketed their goods.
Frances wanted to get a fruit juice at one of the shops, and it was such a novelty for them. The whole family came out and sat with us including the grandmother holding a baby.
They were fairy friendly and we joked around, even though we could not understand each other.
There were absolutely no tourists around at all. Altogether it was just a nice experience.
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| "I'd like a fruit juice" |
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| Frances enjoying her juice |
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| Knives for sale |
From there the taxi driver took us to Saint Anthony’s Cathedral which we had seen on our way into the town.
It is known as Song Vĩnh Church and is known for its French-inspired gothic architecture similar to Notre Dame and includes life size stone sculptures of the 14 stations of the cross around the forecourt.
It is a massive construction for what appeared to be a smallish town, and obviously cost quite a lot of money to build,
