No Plan Motorbike Vacation: Tây Ninh

The City of Tây Ninh lies in the heart of Tay Ninh Province, almost an even 100 km NW of Ho Chi Minh City. The ride is along well-travelled highways (although you can explore if you so desire, Google maps is fairly accurate as far as I can tell), and there are many buses back and forth if you choose to watch the scenery roll by instead of getting a super-sexy farmer’s tan.

But a rando weekend getaway on a bus? Nopers. Nuh-uh. Not when it’s so close!

It’s time for a motorbike trip!

TAY NINH CITY

The scenery isn’t that special for most of the trip. The first 70 km is pretty monotonous, with small houses, a burning field glimpsed behind a marble statue workshop, small stores of all kinds, bike repair stops, and hammock cafes featuring relaxing dudes watching Vietnamese soaps. Honestly, it really feels like you’re never leaving outer HCMC for much of it, except for glances of rice paddies and larger-than-usual palm trees. It’s only once you get within the last 30-35 km that the people step back and let the beauty of this low-lying agricultural region come to the fore.

Eventually, though, you’ll reach Tay Ninh – Welcome!

We stayed in Khach San Hoa Binh, a 2-star hotel near the center of town. It was a very comfortable room with three beds, there was a little English spoken, and we got to interrupt a wedding Sunday morning that was performing right in the lobby outside the elevator (“oh my god. Be casual as you walk through their ceremony and past the officiants to get out of the elevator. Just be casual.”).

Tay Ninh City is nothing special – which is actually rather unusual given the inordinate amounts of tourists that come through here.

It’s surprisingly large, and yet almost impossibly dull. How is it possible that a city big enough to have city buses, several large hotels, and be the home to an entire religion could be so boring? (Actually, on second thought, that last point might be self-explanatory.)

A trip to Tay Ninh has 2.5 things worth seriously investigating. Let’s take a look.

NÚI BÀ ĐEN

2/3 of the way up the mountain is a temple complex, and it’s beautiful. But don’t worry – although you can take the walking route to the summit (at 6 hours up and down, it’s a hefty time investment and a serious workout), you don’t have to exercise if you don’t want to.

As Joao noted, this completely random mountain in the middle of plains is like God farted. (He has such a way with words!)

The ‘Black Virgin Mountain‘ towers like Kilimanjaro over the plains of Tay Ninh, most of which is just a few meters above sea level. The Mountain is a different story altogether. This extinct volcano rises almost 1000m out of flat nothingness and is a popular tourist destination for Vietnamese people, both secular and religious.

It was a focal point of conflict during the American War, and both US and VC troops controlled the summit/many tunnels/surrounding areas at different points – it was coveted because of its status as the highest point in Southern Vietnam, and because of the many local legends surrounding it.

There’s a modern cable car/gondola ride that takes you directly to the temple. From there, it’s a mere 1/1.5 hour hike to the summit. Fortunately we visited in the dry season, because these stairs looked like they’d be treacherous wet. (In reality, the stairs only go a hundred meters or so - it then turns into a bouldering kind of game. And it's a workout.)

But the most fun thing about this has to be the slideway.

Yes, my friends. There’s a little slide car thing that lets you coast 1700m down the side of this mountain. YES. Unfortunately, we were in relax mode in getting to the mountain, and the slide closes at 4pm. We arrived just before 4… pretty much the only disappointment of the trip!

Joao, Antoine and I indicating our love of Vietnamese food and world peace.

There are many vendors at the base of the mountain as well as within the temple grounds themselves. Hats, fish, snacks, or just a cold coconut, make sure you’re hydrated and have some calories in you! (Just in case your cable car breaks and you’re stranded on the mountain for days with no one but monks to take care of your broken body and mind. You know.)

Costs are minimal. To get into the mountain area, it costs 16k VND. A round trip in the cable car/slideway is 150k VND. Water can be found for 10-15k, and food is available everywhere.

CAO DAI HOLY SEE

Sunday Noon worship service. Services are held every six hours, every day.

I’ve discussed a little bit of Cao Dai here before, in regards to Vietnam’s constitutional right to freedom of religion and the practical reality. I thought I had a handle on Vietnam’s weirdest homegrown religion, but I have to admit that after visiting the Cao Dai Holy See I have even more thoughts and questions.

But Cao Daism is so colorful, so joyful, and so… Vietnamese, for lack of a better word (well, ‘bonkers’ might work equally well, or, ‘absurdly optimistic’), that actually visiting and witnessing a temple ceremony in progress was a revelation.

This new-ish faith contains a multitude (literally) of deities – in fact, it was founded in the anticipation of a time when all religions would unite and universal peace would reign on Earth. It incorporates aspects of Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism into a syncretic whole. Despite having at least 4-6 million adherents globally, this church was only begun in 1926!

The grounds of the Holy See are peppered with colorful structures and gardens (with monkeys!), as well as helpful Caodaist groundskeepers, many of whom know a bit of English and love to talk.

Architecturally, the church walks the walk – these temples, which are remarkably consistent in design around the globe, marry Eastern and Western design ideas to create something new and weird. The temples are part-church, part-pagoda, and all color.

Of course, the music I love to hate (most traditional Vietnamese music) gets center stage in the upper balconies, where you can ascend to see the temple and faithful from above.

This was a fascinating and brilliant first glimpse of Cao Dai. If only every religion included Victor Hugo as a founding Saint, maybe we’d get along better.

SIDETRIP: CU CHI TUNNELS

I mentioned 2.5 things to do here, right?

Ok, this is cheating. But really, despite the sheer numbers of people that come to visit Ba Den Mountain and the Cao Dai Holy See (and it’s a LOT), there just isn’t much more to do in the city proper, despite how pretty and relaxing it is.

However/meanwhile… 50 km south… on the same highway…

…The Cu Chi Tunnels await!

I’ve already covered the Cu Chi Tunnels here, so I’ll just say that if you do have time on your way back, do stop and check it out. You shouldn’t need more than 3-4 hours, and, since all these sights are all very close to each other, you should have no problem packing them all into a single weekend getaway.

All told, we spent a measly 500-600k VND (~25-30USD) for a fantastic weekend, at at least half of that was food and beer. Go team!

Have you been to Tay Ninh? Can you recommend anything else to eat, drink, or see there? Please leave in the comments!