From Ho Chi Minh City we took a day tour to the Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. We were driven by mini-bus with a guide and it took us about three hours to get there (it took a while due to the bad traffic). This was definitely the highlight of our trip.
Cao Dai Temple
Also known as The Great Holy See Temple, it was built in 1926 and is home to the unique Cao Dai sect, a religion with a hybrid of Buddhism, Christianity and Confucianism. We arrived in time to attend and witness the daily midday mass and it was quite the extravaganza. Most of the congregation was dressed in white, but there were some people dressed in yellow, blue and red. These colour are used to distinguish the different religions. This was a great experience and so unique to anything we have seen before.
Cu Chi Tunnel Complex
The Cu Chi Tunnel Complex is situated about 70 kilometres north-west of Ho Chi Minh City. These tunnels were dug during the Vietnamese War and they are a unique architectural structure. It is basically a system of deep underground tunnels having several floors, alleys and branches that are more than 250 kilometres long with places for eating, living, meeting and fighting. In fact they were functioning underground cities.
This tunnel system was used by the Viet Cong to hide from the Americans during the war and it is a symbol of revolutionary heroism of the Vietnamese people. It was really interesting to learn how the Vietnamese dug and then conducted their lives in these tunnels. It is quite remarkable how they survived. As visitors, we were allowed to climb inside and squeeze through some of the tunnels, and while David and Robin went through one tunnel, Ruth and I did not. Good thing for us, because it was apparently dark, narrow in places and a little claustrophobic.
