Monthly Archives: Tháng Mười Hai 2020

In ancient Vietnamese culture, there was usually a holy temple in every village to worship the village guardian who helped protect the local people from super-natural forces and their enemies.

The village temple was also a place where various cultural and religious activities took place.

Over the years, due to historical changes, many such temples no longer exist. Fortunately, in the modern city of Vung Tau, there are still some old temples which are well preserved. The Thang Tam temple, for instance, is one of the temples that not only has the most common features as other temples but also represents the unique characteristics of the local people.

The Thang Tam’s Holy Temple was built in the time of Minh Mang Dynasty to worship three men who contributed to the establishment of the first three villages in Vung Tau. As legend goes, under the reign of king Gia Long, when Malay pirates built a base in Vung Tau and subsequently became a danger to traders in Gia Dinh city ( now Saigon), the king sent 3 army companies led by Pham Van Dinh, Le Van Loc and Ngo Van Huyen to crack down on the pirates. The pirates were ousted. The three leaders and their troupes were given the land of Vung Tau as a reward. The men decided to split the land into three villages named Thang Nhat (First village) administered by Mr. Pham Van Dinh, Thang Nhi ( Second village) administered by Mr. Le Van Loc and Thang Tam administered by Mr. Ngo Van Huyen. Today, these three men are worshipped in the temples of the three villages.

In addition to its historical and cultural values, the Thang Tam’s Holy Temple keeps and maintains festivals that colorfully show national characters and traditions. Annually, the temple festival formally takes place from 17th to 20th of the second month in the lunar calendar

The Whale Tomb

Lying on the right of the Thang Tam’s Holy Temple, the Whale Tomb was built at the same time as the Temple of the Five Eliments at the end of the 19th century. The Tomb presently displays a huge skeleton of a whale collected by the local fishermen over a hundred years ago .

In the story about the whale, it was rumoured that in the mid 19th century, there was a very big head of a whale drifting onto the Tam Duong Beach. The whale head was so big that local villagers had to fence it with bamboo sticks and waited several days for the whale flesh to become rotten enough to leave the bones. Then they carried the bones to the temple and people have worshipped until today. Over recent years, more whale bones have been collected and preserved at the temple

According to local fishermen, the first person to see a dead whale is considered as the firstborn of that whale. He or she has to hold a funeral and wear a morning head-band during the whale service as if they were the offspring of the whale.

The “South China Sea General” festival – This title was conferred on the whale by King Thieu Tri, is held annually on the same days the whale was spotted from 16th to 18th of the Lunar August. The ritual includes making offeing to the whale; welcoming the whale accompanied by a parade of colorfully decorated boats at nights. In addition, the worship and offering to the village Guardian and Gods is also seen as a part of the whale festival. These festival days attract a great number of local people and tourists who come not only to pray for health, luck and happiness but to enjoy many fascinating religious and cultural activites taking place in and outside the temple.

Temple of the Five Elements

Lying on the left of the Thang Tam’s Holy Temple is the Temple of the Five Elements. It is said that the temple was built by the Thang Tam fishermen at the end of the 19th century to worship the five basic eliments known as metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Besides, this temple also worships the Goddess Poh Nagar (the Vietnamese call Thien Y A Na) and the Sea Goddess

Annually, the temple festival is held from 16th to 18th of lunar October. The festival is a very vivid and colourful event including offerings to gods, a unicorn dance, folk games and singing. Being known as a sacred place, the temple festival days attracts hundreds of pilgrims through out the country. Obviously, the temple and its festival represents the culture and characteristics of the marine life of the local residents.

Situated on an area of 5 hectares at the foothills of the Big Mountain and some 3 km from the citi center, Thich Ca Phat Dai is a cultural and historical site and one of the most famous tourist attractions in the city of Vung Tau.

Before the foundation of the pagoda, this was a wild mountainous area until 1957 when a man named Le Quang Vinh came to set up a small temple called Thien Lam Tu for his religious worship. In 1962, a larger temple was proposed by many of the Buddhists in the region. Worked commenced in that same year 1962 and was completed one year later in 1963. Thich Ca Phat Dai has the many common features that are easily regconized in many other Buddhist temples in Vietnam.

However, the unique thing about this pagoda lies in the harmonious combination between its architectural structure and the natural surroundings, especially the white cement construction of the giant statue of Buddha perched on a 4.5 meter high pedestal shaped like a lotus blossom. Another significant design of the pagoda is the construction of various statues leading from the foothill to the pagoda which vividly describes the most important events in the life of the Buddha such as the Buddha at his birth, The Buddha shaving his hair after His Great Departure with His royal servant named Chana on His White Horse, His sitting in meditation pose under the Bodhi tree and His reaching Nirvana state etc.

With its architectural, cultural and religious values, Thich Ca Phat Dai has been regconized by the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism as a national historical cultural heritage and há become the pride of the local people in particular and the country in general.

Location: Thich Ca Phat Dai is situated about 3km from the center of Vung Tau City.

Characteristics: Thich Ca Phat Dai Pagoda is one of the largest pagodas in Vung Tau.

Ba Isle is an islet lying near Nghinh Phong Cape and between the busy Thuy Van Beach and the quiet Dua Beach. From the top of small Mountain where the Statue of Jesus stands, Ba Isle floats on the blue water offering an eye-catching view and making the Nghinh Phong Cape more charming.

On this tiny island, there is a very old temple built in 1881 by a man called Ho Quang Minh, who originally came from the middle part of Vietnam. Inside the 4 meter high temple, various Gods are worshipped. There is also a basement underneath the temple which used to be a secret meeting hall for Vietnamese patiotic cadres during war time.

At low tide, tourists can walk on the uneven rocks to access the island. On full moon days ( the fifteen day of the lunar month) and the first day of the lunar month, many tourists and locals go to the island for sightseeing and praying purposes.

The Museum of antique weapons (Worldwide Arms Museum) is opened by Mr. Robert Taylor (English)

According to the visitors, this is one of the most worth seeing museums in Vietnam. Imaugurated from the beginning of 2012, the museum exhibits 500 effigies with size of a real person wearing gorgeous uniforms, representing the images of warriors all over the world in different periods; more than 1,200 guns, 1,000 ancient swords with the history and stories in them… In addition, there are very rare collections (such as Dutch antique gun – there are only 2 in the world).

This museum is also appreciated thanks to its logical arrangement in the exhibition space.

The museum is now located at 98 Tran Hung Dao Street, Vung Tau.

Known as the “Face of the city” the Front Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches of Vung Tau, lying between Big Mountain and Small Mountain. Previously, this beach was also called Coconut Bay because it had many coconut trees and sheltered in the tiny bay of Vung Tau.

The Beach is located in the southwest of the city, therefore it is well placed to wacth the sunset every afternoon. Not far from the shore are plenty of fishing boats peacefully anchored in the little harbour, making this part of the city charming. Unlike the Back Beach (Bai Sau), the Front Beach is not so popular for swimming, however after the sun sets, this is an exiting place with many restaurants, pubs, dance halls, shops and cafes etc.

Also here, along the beach and in the beautiful park, both locals and tourists sit to relax and enjoy the cool evening sea breezes.

Back Beach also known as Thuy Van Beach is located to the south east of Vung Tau city with the length of 4 km. This is one of the most beautiful and popular beaches in Vietnam. Here, tourists can easily find for themselves a suitanble accommodation from a budget inn to a luxury hotel.

Along the beach, there are many modern resorts with plenty forms of recreations and sports suitable for all ages. Especialy there is a world-class golf course of over 100 hectares at the Paradise resort. In addition, there is a very nice poplar forest, in which there are wooden bungalows styling Vietnamese highland architecture.

At weekends or holiday time, Back Beach usually becomes extremely crowded with people coming from Ho Chi Minh city and neibouring provinces.