Good old-fashioned Buddhist theme park fun.

Warning: Self-indulgent photo extravaganza follows.

Yesterday I had the priviledge of being shown another fabulous side of Saigon by a friend who shares my passion for kitsch.

After a late breakfast we hit grabbed a taxi and headed 30 minutes north of Saigon to the Suoi Tien Park - aka Vietnam's Buddha-themed fun park (this is not a joke!).

Pulling up to the gates I knew we were in for a fun day - but I wouldn't have been able to fathom the level of kitsch fabulousness that awaited me in my wildest dreams.


So, after being dropped off near the giant lucky toad we went up the stairs, paid our 16,000 dong entry fee (just under $1.50 $AUD) ...


... and walked into my idea of heaven.



Two things struck me within minutes of going in - one, my mate and I were the only whiteys there (I think we spotted one later that day but I may have imagined it) and two, this was for real!

So much for real, in fact, that there were groups of monks wandering around as part of their holiday tour to Saigon!



Now by 'real' of course, I mean completely synthetic right down to the rocks - but I am pretty sure that the trees and this (the first time I have seen graffittied fruit actually) were real.


'But enough talking about little details!' I hear you cry - 'what about the really BIG stuff?'

Well - there was a fair bit of that too:


We soon spied a colossal head, a giant shrimp and an equally massive coke bottle in the distance - clearly we had to investigate further.


I feel quite embarassed to admit that I didn't know what awaited me but I really should have guessed - in a Buddhist-themed fun park what else would it be but a giant buddhist and marine-themed waterpark?!


Luckily we had bought our togs (cossies, bathers, swimsuits what have you) with us and were ready to swim and attack the Buddhist hydroslide (can't remember when I last did a hydroslide but god damn it was fun!).



Highlights included the amazing labour-intensive detail that Vietnam specialises in:




...and some really cool signs - 'Medials rvice room' anyone?



After swimming and hyrdrosliding we were ready for the next leg of our Buddhist pilgrimmage - wandering out to find that a full-scale Vietnamese Buddhist Pirate spectacle was underway. This show left Disney or Vegas for dead with dodgy pyrotechnics, giant floating elephants and enough stunts to make an occupational health and safety officer want to commit Hari Kari.



We then wandered a little way, past the nice ticket selling lady sitting in her goat/dragon/bull ticket booth...



... and found ourselves in 'Carni' country - with various stalls and sideshow games set up - but, unlike the dodgy bastards at the Melbourne Show the Vietnamese versions are ridiculously good-humoured and fab! Our mate had a go at one which was incredibly popular - where you put on a silly mask, walk forwards and attempt to hit a bell with a stick - sort of pinata gone Vietnamese. The main idea seems to be that you miss and everyone else laughs at you. After two goes our mate was triumphant - for his troubles he won a very Buddhist can of Red Bull.

And even the sideshow ducks looked great ;-)



It was around this time that I started to realise how bloody massive this park was all round - I think by the time we left after 5 hours we had covered 2/3rds of the park (a very fine excuse for going back!). So we wandered past the giant elephants, up the elephant and lion-lined stairs to the the monkey area where I couldn't resist snapping this cute kid:



And this VERY proper line up of Vietnamese ladies who were preparing to have their photo taken by a park photographer - boy do they look pissed that I snapped them first!



Then we wandered along past these equally Buddhist attractions (an especial favourite was the bridge over the lake where the guys were paying to fish - but they were cheating cos' a guy kept feeding the fish and luring them to the surface!), did the obligatory silly 'photosticker' portrait session and escaped before we started dreaming of buddhist swans.





If you are EVER in Saigon - this place is a must. Check out their website by googling 'Suoi Tien Park' - do it now! ;-)