Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [101]
Also worth a look is the Khmer Minority People’s Museum (daily 7–11am & 1–5pm; free), just in front of the pagoda. The display includes musical instruments, a depiction of Khmer daily life, Buddha statues and samples of traditional dress.
The Mekong Delta | Tra Vinh and around |
Hang Pagoda
The sight of the hundreds of storks that nest in the grounds of Hang Pagoda, a Khmer pagoda around 6km south of town along Dien Bien Phu, is one that will linger in the memory. Timing, however, is all-important, and you should aim to catch these magnificent creatures before dusk, when they wheel and hover over the treetops, their snowy wings catching the evening’s sunlight. It’s a stirring sight, though you might find yourself distracted by the saffron-robed monks who clamour to practise their English. They may also show you their wood-carving workshop, where there’s usually someone at work on a wooden rat or tiger. Hang Pagoda itself – an arched stone gate to the left of the main road betrays the entrance to the compound – is nothing to write home about. Dominating it is a Sakyamuni statue, hooped by a halo of fairy lights and flanked by murals depicting scenes from his life. There’s no public transport to the pagoda, so you’ll have to take a xe om: about 40,000đ for the return trip.
The Mekong Delta |
Sa Dec
A cluster of brick and tile kilns on the riverbank announces your arrival in the charming town of SA DEC, a little over 20km upriver of Vinh Long. French novelist Marguerite Duras lived here as a child (see "Marguerite Duras"), and decades later the town’s stuccoed shophouse terraces, riverside mansions and remarkably busy stretch of the rumbling Mekong provided the backdrop for the movie adaptation of her novel The Lover.
As you come in from the bus station, the town’s three main arteries – Nguyen Hué, Tran Hung Dao and Hung Vuong – branch off to your right. It’s worth wandering along Nguyen Hué, whose umbrella-choked lanes hide Sa Dec’s extensive riverside market. Waterfront comings and goings are observed by rheumy old men playing chequers, and women squat on their haunches, selling fruit from wicker baskets. From about halfway down Nguyen Hué, ferries cross to the childhood home of Marguerite Duras, which now belongs to the People’s Committee, and is not open to the public. It’s an elegant old colonial villa that’s been reasonably maintained, and its pale blue shutters and red-tiled roof still give off a refined aura.
A few kilometres north of town by the river, Sa Dec’s famed flower nurseries consist of more than a hundred farms cultivating a host of ferns, fruit trees, shrubs and flowers. The expansive grounds of Tu Ton Rose Garden (daily 8–11am & 1–5pm) get the lion’s share of tourists visiting the area. In addition to the varieties of roses cultivated here (among them the Brigitte Bardot, the Jolie Madame and the Marseille), over 580 species of plants are grown, ranging from orchids, carnations and chrysanthemums, through to medicinal herbs and pines grown for export around Asia. Bear in mind that the nurseries are overrun on Sundays by tourists from Ho Chi Minh City, who come to pose for photos among the blooms; and that things get particularly busy and colourful in the run-up to Tet, as farms prepare to transport their stocks to the city’s flower markets.
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The Mekong Delta | Sa Dec |
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras (1914–96) was born to French parents in a suburb of Saigon, and lived in various locations in Vietnam and Cambodia before going, aged 18, to study at the