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We headed for Tay Ninh City, through the beautiful countryside. John nodded off as John can do. I couldn't. I didn't want to miss one face, one tree, one flower. Ox carts begin to replace 3 wheeled cyclos and the beasts work in the fields as they have for thousands of years. Suddenly, Nui Ba Denh, the Black Virgin Mountain, popped into view from behind a Betel Nut Grove, and I awakened John to show him that sight, rising almost 3,000 feet, straight out of the flat plain. You aren't going to climb that mountain, dad, was all he said.
Our guide had a special restaurant chosen for us in Tay Ninh, perhaps it was the only one. This isn't much of a city, but it is strategically located on the Cambodian Border and was the southern terminus of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The U.S. Army Camp where I spend a number of anxious nights was nearby, but our guide didn't know where. We were served an 8 course meal, things kept coming, on and on. I kept my eye on a 5 gallon gar full of snakes, but the lid stayed on for us. Desert was cold pig lard cubed in 1 inch chunks, wrapped in rice paste. "Very good," said a middle aged woman, who ordered our waitress to bring more of the revolting stuff.
The woman was the owner of the restaurant (I flicked a red ant off the calf of my leg where it was eating better than was I.) Her husband is the local judge, our guide interpreted. That should have been the giveaway, but I was dense as to just where John and I had been brought. The woman in broken English and pointing to John, said, "Your baby?" I said yes, and she smiled, then saying, "You were here before, I think." I said yes. When? she wanted to know, giving me a piece of paper and a pencil on which to write the years. I wrote "1966 and 1967". She smiled and pointed to the ground. "I here then," she said. Then she went to a drawer and brought back two medals in boxes. One was a "Hero of the Revolution" Medal, and our guide gasped. The other was a campaign ribbon for the invasion of Cambodia. This lady was hard core VC with NVA political connections.
Through our guide, she explained that she was a fighter and that after the war had built up this business and owns the building and does very well. I told her that she had become a very good cook and an excellent capitalist. Our poor guide, Heip, almost had a heart attack, but she laughed heartily, and almost - just almost - hugged me as we departed. "Come back tonight," she said, "I will cook you lizard." Heip declined to have us return. [To the left are U.S. Army Mortar Pits at TayNinh in 1967]
Earlier, Hiep and I had been talking as we waited in the new growth jungle for John and the tunnel guide to scurry around in those tunnels far to small for my frame. He said that he has an idea about the difference between communism and democratic capitalism. Please go on, I begged. He said, "It is like these trees here. Some are tall and strong and some are short and weak. Communists some along and cut off the top half of the big trees so all are the same size, but you leave the tall trees and try to fertilize and care for and water the weak ones so they can catch up."
We rested in our bunks at Tay Ninh City's Anh Dao (and perhaps only) Hotel in the heart of the afternoon. A Gecko lizard squeaked in alarm as he walked along the window sill and suddenly saw me lying there. They once climbed all around tent in those long-past days, when in the rains, only my cot kept my frame above the water in the night.
Cao Di is a religion started in 1928 as a meld of all religions of the world. It has architectural expression from each of them. They had a pontiff who proclaimed himself the first pope, but he was jailed for embezzlement. The see had a private army and was outlawed by President Diem in the early 1960's. They teach Confucism, Buddhism, Taoism, ancestor worship, and Roman Catholicism, all meshed together. They hold seances with Moses, Jesus, and Victor Hugo. It is very tacky to look at, but the temple holds three services, called masses, each day. There are 2 million adherents. We arrived at the Holy See and toured the Temple and gardens. It teemed with people, all arriving on foot or bicycle. We were the only folks to arrive in a car. The people were very kind, but I can't help but think of Gram Green's comment that, "Cao Dai is a joke gone very bad."
We rested back in the hotel and listened to the giant drum and gong, one in each tower of the Temple, a mile away. Our lizard friend brought some friends to protest our presence in his hotel room. Otherwise, I discovered, we are the hotel's only guests. The food was terrible. Few tourists come here to this border town with no crossing. Those who do come to see the spectacle of the Temple. I went to climb the mountain which is the sentinel of the border. They say a young person can climb it in 6 hours and it is going to be hot, so we might go only part way up. It was getting dark when I noticed that we have two 10 watt bulbs in our hotel room. It was enough. It had been a good day.
CaoDai Sect Temple at TayNinh
Visit the Black Virgin Mountain: NuiBaDinh
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