Vietnam North to South – Day 15: A Day Trip to Vũng Tàu

February 24, 2024

With our tour group gone, my dad and I have been looking for things to do around Saigon before our departure on the 27^th. After some googling, our sights fell on Vũng Tàu, a seaside city known for its beaches (which are of no interest to us) and for the biggest statue of Jesus in Asia (which is of interest to us). Having booked a cab the day before, we headed over at nine o’clock in the morning, arriving by the statue a little after eleven.

Climbing up the 800 stairs to the statue, we started to regret telling our driver we would be back in twenty minutes as the sweat poured down our faces. I was told by a guard that I could not use my umbrella (the reason escapes me), so my sweat was heavily infused with the flavour of sunscreen. Despite our best efforts, we took almost twice as long as predicted, though the driver seemed quite sympathetic seeing us drenched and panting upon our return.

The next point of interest we visited in Vũng Tàu was the nineteenth-century Whale Temple. Featuring a massive model of a whale, the temple is visited by fishermen to pray for safe passage on the seas. It also houses the bones of a washed-up cetacean, which are kept in partly open cases to allow worshippers to throw banknotes on the remains. Besides the whale shrine, the complex contains several other buildings, but these are not nearly as distinctive as the whale shrine with its brightly coloured paintings and murals of sea creatures.

For our third stop, we visited the Vũng Tàu Church, a bizarre structure combining the European structure of a cathedral with tiled Asian roofs. We also stopped by the White Palace (Bạch Dinh), the only place where we had to pay an entry fee. Built as a residence for the Governor-General of French Indochina, the building served as prison for the Vietnamese Emperor Thành Thái, who was kept there for almost a decade. Nowadays the place appears to be a popular tourist destination, attracting foreigners with its familiar architecture and locals with its plumeria-filled grounds.

When we told our driver that we were happy to head back to Ho Chi Minh City, he took over the initiative and drove us to two more places he thought we would be interested in seeing. The first was Đền Thánh Đức Mẹ Bãi Dâu, a complex featuring a very modern, angular church and a huge statue of Madonna and Child. The second was the Guanyin temple, which features a tall white statue of the Boddhisattva and appears to be a popular place for releasing birds and rack up good karma.

Once we returned to Ho Chi Minh City, we visited a few markets to buy some souvenirs and made a stop by the Central Mosque. I tried a snake fruit (or salak) for the first time, and I cannot say it has become my favourite fruit. I can also share that I have now tried Tonkin jasmine, which is a rather strange ingredient that I would hesitate to recommend for a main dish.