Vietnam: Cao Dai temple in Tây Ninh

Date: 26 October 2019

Yesterday’s day tour of the Mekong Delta was showcased across three posts: Vinh Trang Pagoda, Bến Tre canal boat ride, and coconut sweet making factory in Bến Tre. Today I embark on another full day tour and this is the first post in that series.

I am doing a full day tour (cost me VND330000 /₹1000/$14/€11.85) that would take me to the infamous Cu Chi jungle tunnels but before that, the first stop would stop at a handicapped handicrafts workshop before heading to the largest Cao Dai temple in Vietnam.

Saigon canal city Vietnam — We left Ho Chi Minh City in the morning

We took a long drive out of the city and arrived at a handicrafts workshop wherein most of workers are handicapped. We were going get a guided tour of how they create the various works of art.

An Ha travel handicapped handicraft Vietnam — This was the entrance to arts workshop

An Ha travel guide Vietnam — That’s our guide here showing some of the works and explaining how they are crafted

Agent orange victims lacquer painting Vietnam — Most of what is made at this workshop is lacquer paintings

The base of the painting is wood. The artisans then etch the designs and then inlay it with mother of pearl pieces or egg shells.

Mother of pearls lacquer painting Vietnam — These are the shells they use

Egg shells lacquer painting Vietnam — It’s a lot of manual work, I admit

Lacquer painting washing Vietnam — Once the creations have been made, they’re cleaned

The thing about this place is that they claim many of their workers are handicapped — some being children of Agent Orange victims from during the Vietnam War. While there were certainly workers who appeared to suffer from some disability or the other, not every worker was handicapped.

But what came off as a bit sketchy were their prices for the finished lacquer paintings. After the tour of the workshop, we were guided to the gallery where visitors could purchase the completed works. We were told photography was prohibited. Now, I’ve seen these paintings sold everywhere since I arrived in Sai Gon. From Ben Thanh Market to souvenir shops elsewhere; these lacquer paintings are a very popular item targeted at souvenir shoppers.

Lacquer paintings Vietnam — Some of the finished works

While a 20×30 lacquer painting would cost 230,000 VND (₹730/$10/€8.15) elsewhere, the same would cost more than 400,000 VND here. The prices were certainly much higher here which is the opposite of what you’d expect to buy directly from the factory themselves. And I highly doubt the higher margins were being used to pay the handicapped workers better wages.

Once we were done with the factory visit, it was another fairly long drive to our next destination — the main Cao Dai temple in Tây Ninh province. Caodaism is the third most popular religion in Vietnam after Buddhism and Christianity. The religion (some deem it a cult) was twice banned, first by the colonial French and later by the Communists when they gained control of Sai Gon.

I had never heard of the religion until I began researching on what to see while in South Vietnam. Caodaism blends Western and Eastern religions into this weird narrative that is better explained in this Wiki.

Here’s a brief clip from a National Geographic documentary:

We reached the Cao Dai temple (also referred to as the Holy See) just in time for the 12pm prayer. The temple only has prayer chants at 6 am, 12 pm, 6 pm, and at midnight.