~Nui Sam's Famed Temple and Pagoda~
Aug. 18. It's a Wednesday. In the morning I receive a text from John and Hien. They're in town at the central Chau Doc Temple that Hien likes to visit. It's not far from the market. It's a friendly place...as is Chau Doc generally. Locals sit around talking. There's good cheap coffee from neighboring stalls outside the fence. It's a beautiful sunny day.
I get there from the Thuan Loi Hotel, 'my place' on the river. We sit and talk for a while. They ask me have I been out to Nui Sam yet. 'No, not yet'. Why don't we make an excursion there now! I've been in Chau Doc happily wandering around the town most days. Happy to be on my own. Happy about what I've seen. I'm thinking it's about time I pay a visit to the famed templed 'mountain'. And I guess it'd be a good change too, to have some company.
Hien's sort of a local. That helps. But like most of the tourist sights around Chau Doc you can 'do' Sam Mountain on your own, cheaply. There's really no need for a 'guided' tour. You get to go where you want, when you want. You can linger here or there. There's no timetable. No-one you feel obliged to tip. If you really do want some local knowledge there's no shortage once you're out there. Like me, John has a limited income. We opt to take the local town bus out the five or so kilometres. It's VND 2k each. They run every twenty minutes or so. After all the attention on entering we find seats at the back.
The famed shrines are the Chua Xu Temple and Tay An Pagoda. They're at the foot of the pimple in the rice fields that's called Nui Sam. Although it's not a 'mountain' it does stand out. You can see it clearly for miles around...easily from the terrace of my room at the central Chau Doc Hoa Hung hotel for example. It's a famous pilgrimage spot for Vietnamese Buddhists. Real relics of the Buddha are believed to be housed there from his visit. After the bus drops us at the entrance, souvenirs shops line the start of the gentle walk up. They cater mainly for local pilgims. For example, there's 'monkey brain potions' in evidence. The faithful believe all manner of ailments can be cured here.
Poor Khmer people are in evidence. Around the Temple there are some poor people, quietly begging. The steps up are lined with the Naga or symbolic snake. I've heard it said that it's of Vedic origin and was adapted by the Angkorians as a temple symbol. It's the snake that forms both sides of the steps up to a Pagoda.
There are also less 'formal' sellers on the final steps the day we visit. Temple 'urchins' also hang around the forecourt to the Chua Xu Temple entrance. Outside too, there's a couple of presumably very old bonzai trees and two iron 'cauldrons' for the burning of offerings. Photography is prohibited inside Chua Xu Temple but not outside. Opposite the temple entrance there's a museum housing the relics associated with the visit of the Buddha himself. It's closed today!
A little further on after the Temple we find the Tay An Pagoda. It's form has been interpreted as Hindu-Islamic in style! It's certainly something else to behold. Around the back of the Pagoda too it'svery interesting. There, there's a striking Buddhist scripture scene. Nearby, people come to be physically as well a spiritually healed. A rag-tag of people is assembled near the entrance to the monastery. The Tay An regularly gives out food to the needy.
After the temples we didn't even think of hiring xe oms to take us up to the top. The view is splendid. You look out over the surrounding countryside both Vietnamese and Cambodian! My friends have already been up there several times. We were starving as we say. We stop off at one of the many restaurants on the road down from the Pagoda. Afterwards we return to Chau Doc by bus again. It's been another fascinating wander.