Vietnam Part 1 of 5: Chau Doc and Bird Sanctuary

We opted to travel by speed boat along the Mekong River from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Vietnam instead of on crummy roads.  We left our hotel in Phnom Penh to get on a boat to make our way down the Mekong River into Vietnam.  Our boat probably held a small bus's worth of passengers.  It seemed like a long trip to me (4+ hrs) but was probably more interesting traveling this way where we could look out the window at the passing countryside, stilt houses, and industrial ships.  Instead of semis traveling on roads, cities along the Mekong River use boats to transport goods. 

We regularly enjoyed fresh fruit juices and smoothies whenever we ate at a restaurant or like here, at our hotel in Chau Doc, Vietnam where our boat taxi dropped us off.

 

We started our tour in Vietnam by going to Nui Sam (translated as Forbidden Mountain).  This mountain rising over Chau Doc is home to many scenic pagodas and we enjoyed looking at all the architecture and wandering through the green gardens.

Hang Pagoda is one of the highlights on the mountain.

We enjoyed sweeping views of the countryside below us while wandering and admiring it.

We admired the ornate interiors of many of the shrines and temples we went through.

This warrior protector statue looks cool with the long tongue and whatever it is holding (not sure if it is supposed to be flaming sword or a flag or something else).  I admired the level of detail and craftsmanship even if I couldn't fully understand the meaning.

Tay An pagoda was very colorful - it was built in 1847 and went through extensive renovations in 1958.  It is at the base of the Forbidden Mountain and incorporates decorative elements from the Cham, Indian, Vietnamese, and Chinese cultures.

Inside Tay An was full of statues/idols.

Along our drive between stops, we saw a Buddha being carved or built into the side of the mountain (somewhat similar to Mt. Rushmore).  We didn't get a great picture of it, but it was interesting to see.

The Ba Chua Xu (Lady Xu) Temple is a popular pilgrimage site.  There are a few different versions of the legend surrounding this location, but they all center on a statue of Lady Xu.  In one of the more popular legends, Lady Xu was a statue erected by an Indian prince on top of the mountain.  A group of bandits came one day and wanted to steal the statue, couldn't lift it, and enraged at their failure, broke one of her arms.  Villagers later found the one-armed statue and wanted to bring her down to worship her, but they also couldn't lift her.  A spirit medium told the villagers that the statue was the Holy Land Mother and moving her would require nine virgins.  When the maidens were assembled, they were able to lift the large statue and carry her down the mountain.  In the 1820s, the villagers built a temple around the statue in hopes that she would bless them with better crops and lives.  Today, nearly 200,000 believers come just during the three-day lunar new year festival season to worship and seek her favor and blessings.  Pilgrims regularly bring food as offerings as well as as to ask for a blessing on it for their feasts like these people are doing with a roasted pig.  Many people claim their prayers have been answered after seeking a blessing here.

The next day, we went to a wild bird sanctuary called Tra Su.  The garden with all the birdhouses was a pretty spot.

As silly as it was, one of the highlights of this excursion was feeding the pigeons.  We got birdseed from our guide and the fearless birds who are accustomed to this form of a free meal would fly around each of us and peck the food right off of our hands.

 

 

They had sharp talons and it hurt a little, but not enough that anyone wanted to stop doing it.

 

 

Once we were done feeding the birds, we donned Vietnamese hats for the shade and met up with guides who rowed us through the jungle as we looked at the various wild birds who were in this protected habitat.

We didn't get any great pictures of the birds, but here are a couple.  This is a grey heron.

I can't tell what kind of birds these are in the trees.

The flowers along the way like these lotus blossoms or water lilies were pretty.

They took pictures for purchase of us in our canoes.  Tanja and the girls got a good picture (Derek and I were in a different canoe and ours wasn't worth purchasing).

After the canoe trip, the kids were happy to get an ice cream treat to cool down on a hot day and wander through some of the playground-style equipment like tire swings and wooden teeter-totters.

This was a fun walkway and the girls tested their balance walking out along it.

Of course, we had to go back and feed the pigeons again!

These excursions made for a good beginning to our time in Vietnam.  When we were done at the bird sanctuary, we headed on a drive with our guide for the city of Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta.