Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh

Tourists take cable cars up Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh Province

Climbing the mountain sometimes called the roof of Southern Vietnam is a once in a lifetime experience for visitors to Tay Ninh Province.

About 10 kilometers northeast of Tay Ninh Town and straddling three communes, the Nui Ba mountain range stretches 24 square kilometers and comprises three mountains, Heo (Pig) Mountain, Phung (Phoenix) Mountain and Ba Den (Black Lady) Mountain. The mountains have grottoes and pagodas and ancient trees, attracting hundreds of tourists and pilgrims everyday.

The 986 meter tall Ba Den Mountain with its good tourist facilities is the best option to climb. The path winding to the top passes many falls and narrow streams. Halfway up the mountain, there are some mysterious caves with giant rocks and old temples.

If you don’t want the exercise there’s a cable car to the top. Along the way there are views of a waterfall, caves and forest.

Cao Dai Cathedral - Photos: Dang Hoang Tham

Once on the top, trekkers should visit the Ba Temple Complex. It contains old pagodas such as Ha Pagoda, Thuong Pagoda and Hang Pagoda and caves such as Ba Co Cave, Thien Thai Cave and Ba Tuan Cave. All present typical features of Buddhist culture and folk beliefs.

Another highlight of Tay Ninh Province is the mammoth Cao Dai Pagoda that has 100-hectare grounds. The temple is a magnificent architectural work with 12 doors.  Built in 1933, the pagoda is a mix of Cao Dai religion, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, with Christianity and Islam as well as some internationally famous faces.

To enter the Cao Dai sects’ main headquarters, males must enter on the right and females to the left and shoes have to be removed before entering the main hall. Naturally lit and filled with icons, the hall is a sanctuary away from the world.

Central in the Cao Dai hall is a Divine Eye encased in a triangle. It is a recurring motif on walls and ceilings. Gaudy pink pillars down both sides are wrapped with snarling green dragons.

Binh Thanh Ancient Tower is also a must-to-see destination. The Cham tower built in the Oc Eo era is more than 1,000 years old.

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Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh

Tourists take cable cars up Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh Province

Climbing the mountain sometimes called the roof of Southern Vietnam is a once in a lifetime experience for visitors to Tay Ninh Province.

About 10 kilometers northeast of Tay Ninh Town and straddling three communes, the Nui Ba mountain range stretches 24 square kilometers and comprises three mountains, Heo (Pig) Mountain, Phung (Phoenix) Mountain and Ba Den (Black Lady) Mountain. The mountains have grottoes and pagodas and ancient trees, attracting hundreds of tourists and pilgrims everyday.

The 986 meter tall Ba Den Mountain with its good tourist facilities is the best option to climb. The path winding to the top passes many falls and narrow streams. Halfway up the mountain, there are some mysterious caves with giant rocks and old temples.

If you don’t want the exercise there’s a cable car to the top. Along the way there are views of a waterfall, caves and forest.

Cao Dai Cathedral - Photos: Dang Hoang Tham

Once on the top, trekkers should visit the Ba Temple Complex. It contains old pagodas such as Ha Pagoda, Thuong Pagoda and Hang Pagoda and caves such as Ba Co Cave, Thien Thai Cave and Ba Tuan Cave. All present typical features of Buddhist culture and folk beliefs.

Another highlight of Tay Ninh Province is the mammoth Cao Dai Pagoda that has 100-hectare grounds. The temple is a magnificent architectural work with 12 doors.  Built in 1933, the pagoda is a mix of Cao Dai religion, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, with Christianity and Islam as well as some internationally famous faces.

To enter the Cao Dai sects’ main headquarters, males must enter on the right and females to the left and shoes have to be removed before entering the main hall. Naturally lit and filled with icons, the hall is a sanctuary away from the world.

Central in the Cao Dai hall is a Divine Eye encased in a triangle. It is a recurring motif on walls and ceilings. Gaudy pink pillars down both sides are wrapped with snarling green dragons.

Binh Thanh Ancient Tower is also a must-to-see destination. The Cham tower built in the Oc Eo era is more than 1,000 years old.

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Grilled lizards for lunch

Grilled giong are juicy and delicious - Photo: Dang Hoang Tham

Giong are lizards with a similar shape but larger size than tac ke bong (geckos). They are very tasty grilled. A plate of grilled Giong is a popular dish in many restaurants on the South Central Coast from Ba Ria-Vung Tau to Ninh Thuan provinces.

Grilled giong has a distinctive flavor. To make the lizards juicy, people have to boil giong and soak them with banana leaves before washing carefully. Then they are spiced and mixed with lemongrass to grill. Giong can be cooked in variety of ways including fried giong served with grilled banh trang (dried pancake) or goi giong (giong with vegetables) or lau giong (hot pot).

Giong is thought to have medicinal qualities as the lizards eat herbal leaves and grasses. In traditional medicine they are used to cure aching bones. People go hunting for giong on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month when the early rains wet the dry sand hills and giong start to hatch.

Vienna charity gala in Hanoi

The Austrian Embassy in Vietnam will hold the first Vienna charity gala in Hanoi on November 11, reports Sai Gon Giai Phong.

Singers from Vietnam and Austria such as Thanh lam, Duc Tuan, Bich Thuy, and Marcela Cerno will perform a concert at the event.

To open the gala, a group of dancers from the Austria-based dance school, Olympic Dance Club, will perform the Polka, Quadrille, and the Waltz, promising an entertaining evening to mark the bilateral relationship of the two nations.

Miss Vietnam World Ngo Phuong Lan will be the M.C.

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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• Vung Tau surf
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
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• No tourism gains from dollar hike
• Australia wants stronger cooperation to vocational education