🇻🇳 An Giang Province: 2 Most Sacred Mountaintops of The Mekong Delta | Vietnam Travel Ep: 26

🇻🇳 An Giang Province: 2 Most Sacred Mountaintops of The Mekong Delta | Vietnam Travel Ep: 26

Welcome to Episode 26 of our Mekong Delta  scooter trip in Vietnam. After visiting the   most Southwestern city, Ha Tien, and exploring the  mountain cave with the temple inside overlooking Cambodia. Say hello. Hi, Cambodia! We’re now taking one of the longest scooter trips to  

Hit up the province of An Giang, known as  the sacred land that attracts millions of   Buddhist worshippers each year. There are several  mountaintops that most people go to see, not only   for their incredible landscapes but also for their  spiritual significance and fulfillment of prayers.  

In today’s episode, we’re going to hit up two  of these mountaintops to show you what they’re about. Traveling from midday to night, our scooter  journey will take us from smooth pathways to the   roughest tracks. Along the way, we’ll encounter  the warm hospitality of the locals… “Thank you! What’s this? Oh, yeah!”

Delight in their exquisite cuisine and have a momentary separation   from each other, hitching a ride to climb up the  most challenging mountain. And before we take you on today’s trip, please hit that thumbs-up button and subscribe to our channel to continue exploring   Vietnam with us. Now, let’s go to An Giang.

It’s now time for us to say goodbye to this place, to this city, and this cave to head to the next province. And the next province, An Giang, is also the 12th province of our Mekong Delta journey. Time marched by so quickly that we  

Didn’t even realize we’d scooted 762 km and been  to 11 provinces already. We’ve learned a lot about   this fertile, full-of-canal region of Vietnam  and experienced so many things along the way.   In today’s episode, we’ll continue to rack up  127 more kilometers of mileage to arrive at the  

Locations of the two mountaintops in An Giang. Ah, you want to take a little rock for the road?   All right, let’s go. Let’s go. I got to get off this rock now. And I still got my rock. Your turn.  Easy. It’s easy for me. See?

It’s now around 3 p.m., and it didn’t seem like it was going  to rain, but just to be safe, we put on our raincoats. For the first 40 minutes of the ride,  this is how small the road is.

And when there’s a big oncoming car, look at what I have left to  squeeze through, with a wide load at the back. I don’t know why, but it’s really fun to be on  this road. My guess is it’s because it’s not busy and dusty. Besides, I feel like we have  

More air to breathe, as there are plenty of trees  and fields on both sides. So, it might not be the   most beautiful road, but the most enjoyable one  we’ve been on, especially when we found these.  These are fried bananas, often served as  a delightful and popular street food snack  

In Vietnam. During our trip, I saw so many stalls  like this, but this was the first time we stopped   to get some. David told me that they coat ripe  bananas in a batter, often consisting of rice   flour and coconut milk, then deep-fry them until  they are golden and crispy. To add extra flavor,  

They sprinkle sesame seeds or drizzle some honey on the bananas. I think this is a good snack.  Good snack.    After the yummy snacks, we continued riding for another one-and-a-half hours and…  Finally made it to An Giang Province. And we are  

Probably in one of the very far-flung areas of the  province. We’re not there there in the city yet,   or in the central part of the province yet.  But passing through this road, first of all,   the atmosphere along the road is awesome. Second  of all, along the road, like on both sides of the  

Road, people are selling some of the snacks,  and we just stopped by and ate some wonderful   and very yummy snacks. And also, this road is so  chill and peaceful, quiet. It’s not very heavy for   the traffic passing through. That’s why people  find it very peaceful and enjoyable to walk out  

Of their house and just like sitting outside like  this. The number of people that we’ve seen sitting outside their house is like through the roof. There, I think everybody right now is outside   ‘cuz it’s cool, it’s nice, it’s not too hot,  and it’s not raining, so it’s like the perfect time to be outside.

Yeah, dogs are running around,  kids are not wearing their pants running around,   ladies in pajamas, and guys go shirtless. Oh yeah, everyone’s comfortable, everyone’s at home.  The area is getting dark really fast, as it’s now about 6:00 p.m.  So we’re basically 4.5 km out from the city, and look at what we just found.

It’s super, super scenic there. You can’t see too much of it through the GoPro, but like,  it looks like there’s a ship lit up with a bunch   of lights. It looks amazing. And then there’s more  lights on top of that mountain in the background.

And that’s where we’re going to visit tomorrow.After entering the city of Chau Doc, we quickly found a hotel and settled in. I think for 250,000 per night, this one is actually a take. The only thing that freaked me out was seeing the ants in the bed.

I almost thought that they were bed bugs because there were so many. And our first adventurous day ended with a restaurant hunt for dinner. After 15 minutes of going around, we came  to this restaurant and ordered some fried rice. It’s now around 10 p.m., and we’re both exhausted, but I’m still determined to get this shot.

Wow!  Green onions as well as some fried garlic. A lot   of ingredients have been put in there, in that  wok already. Oh, nicely done. Man! This plate   looks a lot better than the one that we had  for lunch today. There are like crunchy pieces  

This time. I love that. And then it also has  some like smoky flavor as well. Perfect dish   for dinner. That is really good. Was very  juicy, and then like the garlic on top.  The next day started with our 10-minute trip  to the first mountaintop, which is called  

Sam Mountain. We plan to stop at the foot of this  mountain for breakfast and later climb to the top.   Besides, the city we’re in, Chau Doc, the province  of An Giang has another city named Long Xuyen, one   town, and eight districts, covering approximately  3,500 square km. Slightly different from other  

Provinces in the Mekong Delta, known for all of  the endlessly vast rice paddies, An Giang stands   out for having the most significant number of mountains, making it an exception in the Delta’s generally flat geography. Being bordered by Cambodia in the north, apart from Sam Mountain,  

There is a cluster of seven other mountains  located in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts,   often referred to as a sacred land. One of these  mountains is in our itinerary for tomorrow.  After around 10 minutes on the scooter, we arrived  at the National Tourist area of Sam Mountain,  

Clearly stated on the welcome arch up there.  It’s not just about the big name, but everything   here feels different and festive. However, first  things first, we needed breakfast and coffee. So,   we pulled into this restaurant for some Bun Bo Hue  and Ca Phe Sua Da. Bun Bo Hue is a popular Vietnamese  

Noodle soup known for its striking balance  of spicy, sour, salty, and sweet flavors,   combined with a distinctive aroma of lemongrass  and fermented shrimp sauce. Originating from Hue,   a city in central Vietnam that was once the  capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, this dish reflects  

The richness of Vietnamese culinary traditions.  This broth is made from beef bones and pork,   simmered for hours with lemongrass and annatto  seeds for natural coloring, star anise, and   cinnamon, hence it’s deeply flavored already.  But without some fermented shrimp paste, the  

Base is still incomplete. Now, the type of noodle  they use is a bit bigger than vermicelli noodles,   and its main protein is usually slices  of beef shank and pork ham. Sometimes, you can order some pork hocks too. And, same as a  variety of soups in Vietnam, along with the green  

Onions and cilantro already garnished on the  top, we have some thinly sliced banana blossom,   shredded water morning glory, and a bunch of fresh herbs here too. This style or kind of noodles is so unique in its own way. That’s why it’s become very well-known throughout Vietnam.  Very good.

Mine is a regular one, while Madi’s only has a little bit of the condensed milk. Mine’s a little darker. After breakfast, we came to this most crowded   area to ask people if we could ride the  scooter to the top. Turns out, we could,  

And it isn’t that far, but the incline is somewhat  steep, yet super long. You can literally see,   I put the bike on gear two or even one the entire  time. For those who don’t have a bike, there are  

Many scooter drivers at the foot they can hire. Rising to a height of about 284m, Sam Mountain   is an lone one, located in a vast flat area  surrounded by rice paddies and residential   areas. No wonder its peak was used as a military lookout. It’s absolutely stunning.   I already said that.

I think this is like one of the  highest spots we’ve ever gotten onto. Oh yeah, for sure. Walking up just for a couple of stairs,  we are already exhausted. Yes. This mountaintop  is also where they found the pedestal in the  18th century, that’s proven to be part of the  

Lady Buddha statue in the sacred temple at the  foot, which we’ll also visit later. To explain   why the statue and this pedestal are apart, some  legends say it was brought down by nine virgin   ladies. They then built a small shrine to worship  the statue, with many rituals done only by women,  

And maintained till these days. While the  development of the shrine is still a myth,   it was rebuilt and expanded later on to  become an attraction to millions of devotees,   especially during the annual Ba Chua Xu Festival,  which takes place in late spring, around April or  

May. These days, the summit itself is used as the  location of two broadcast towers and a shrine for the pedestal. Very interesting, very beautiful view for her too. All of the information about this entire tourist area is so interesting that  I just want us to do what other people do here,  

Though I’m not a Buddhist worshipper. Millions of  pilgrims come here each year to pray for blessings   of health, happiness, and prosperity. Hence,  we also take our chance to wish good things for our families. Being mentally amped up due to  the beautiful landscapes and religious meaning  

Of this place, I wanted to go around more, but we  needed some drinks. Got another palm fruit drink, a new favorite of mine. And some snacks.  Ambarella. So good! Sour, crunchy, sweet,   Perfect. And salty of the salt, so good. All of it pairs nicely. One last piece for you, okay?

Okay. So, foresty. Lots of air  and oxygen for you to breathe in.  Jumping back to you saying, though, it’s cool.  I’m wearing my long sleeve shirt under this,   so I’m very warm. I only wore this cuz I thought it would rain, and I wanted to be warm, but I’m definitely warm right now.

There’s a water feature on the other side. Oh, and there’s another lookout right there. You want to go to the lookout? Yeah, let’s go. Okay. I don’t see anything. Hey babe.   Yeah? It’s a little sunny. Yeah. So, what do you…what do you think, and how are you feeling right now?

I’m feeling overheated. Overheated already? Yeah. You just had some, some palm fruit drink. It’s just cuz we’re in the sun right now. But we are still standing in the sun on this   lookout, and that really proves how beautiful this landscape is. It is beautiful.  

Being here, and you can say that everything is so well worth it. It’s perfect, actually! It’s perfect. On this mountain, there are many other temples and  shrines that help amplify the sense of peace and   serenity. Walking around here is so uplifting  that it feels like we’re taking a short break  

From the hustle and bustle of daily life.  That’s true. I love how green this place is,   with several incredible lookouts to the fields  and everything down there. We don’t have to be religious to enjoy the natural beauty of the  mountain and to respect the people’s spiritual practices, you know?

I’d say, when in Rome, do as  the Romans do. This time, we’re praying that 2024   will be a year of good luck, happiness, and  prosperity for us and everybody. Oh, that’s it. I was also praying for our YouTube channel  to be known by many more people in 2024 too. 

Before descending from the top, we stopped to  drink some coconut water and look up some info   for the next places. Like I thought, going down  was a lot easier and faster than climbing up.   So, here we are at the shrine of the Lady Buddha.  Many people here are offering a whole grilled  

Piglet on the worshiping altar. Some come here  with their big tray of fruits and flowers. We’re,   on the other hand, only having some burning  incense to show our respect. According to   the French archaeologist, Malleret, in 1941, the  statue is of a male deity, carved in a thoughtful  

And noble pose, with a high artistic value, made  from sandstone at the end of the 6th Century,   making it the oldest sandstone statue in Vietnam.  Later, a famous writer named Sơn Nam also wrote   that the statue depicts a male Buddha of the Khmer  people, long forgotten on top of Sam Mountain.  

People then brought the statue into the temple,  retouched it with paint, and turned it into a   woman, wearing a silk dress and a necklace. From  then on, Ba Chua Xu, became a powerful deity in this land. 

After Sam Mountain, we headed back to our hotel  to check out and start our ride to the second mountaintop. Right now, it is what, 1:30 p.m.? 1:30 p.m.  Yeah, perfect.

We’re only 1 hour away, but just right after we got out of the city, we started to think it was going to take us a lot longer than   expected, as Google Maps took us here, to this  terrible, under-construction road. I wouldn’t  

Get so upset if they were only fixing a small  patch of it, but no, they’re fixing more than   20 km of the road, and I’m going at more or less  30 km per hour.

The only thing that keeps me sane  is the scenic landscapes of all of the mountains and fields here, not to mention, all by accident,   we saw this Khmer pagoda, which is always listed  as a must-visit spot in An Giang. Many people are  

Here to take their check-in photos at the gate,  as this is what makes this pagoda famous. I think this pagoda is popular due to its peaceful surroundings. It stands in the middle of a vast rice field, girdled by mystical mountains. Look at that cloud at the top of that mountain. It’s so beautiful! Yeah.

After the road is done, I think  this place will be a much better tourist spot.  From this Khmer pagoda, we needed to ride for  another half an hour to get to our destination today. As soon as we passed the welcome arch,  we purchased the tickets and scooted for a few  

Hundred meters to get to the foot of the mountain.  Here, we learned that we couldn’t use our scooter   to climb up the top like we did this morning with  Sam Mountain. They even prohibit tourists from   riding up because it’s super dangerous, with  an extremely windy and slopy path. Only the  

Residents living up there and the scooter drivers  who are approved to work in this area could still   do so. All of them must have a modified scooter with the engine tweaked to conquer the slopiness of the mountain. I thought you gave up on going the moment you knew our scooter couldn’t go up there.

I kind of did, but then I talked to the  restaurant people while having our late lunch… And they told me a few things about what  it looks like on top of the mountain. Oh, wow.

So, we have that gigantic statue of the Happy Buddhist. We have a lake, some of the temples or pagodas all the way around. That photo looks  really good. It’s Beautiful.

So, I changed my mind, and here’s the plan. We will hire two bikes to go up and stay there for the night. To do that, we   need to park our scooter here and only bring the necessary items. A new adventure.

A new adventure. We have to leave everything behind: our scooter,  the car trunk, and then our tent, and then this   is everything that we are carrying with us. It wasn’t that difficult to find these drivers, and  

We booked them for a round trip that cost 130,000  per scooter, paid only when we descend back down   tomorrow. I know we got the best deal here, as  all other places I talked to wanted a lot more. 

The mountain we’re at is called Cấm, and it’s  one of the seven sacred mountains located in   Tịnh Biên District. “Cấm” means prohibited,  and many theories explain why it’s named that   way. Because if it’s prohibited, we’re not  allowed to go up there, you know? Anyways,  

This mountain is 705m tall and 2.5 times taller  than Sam Mountain. Rather than taking a bike to   go 7 km from the bottom to the top, you can  also take a gondola ride for only 15 minutes.  

But we got here quite late, and the gondola  was closed, so this is our only way now. Before tourists could go up on their own, but since many accidents and fatal landslides happened, access has been restricted. Since this is my first time on the back of a scooter up a  

Mountain like this, I’m not going to lie, I’m a  little nervous. The incline is relentlessly long   and steep, so after a few minutes of the ride,  I can already see the vivid elevation. Quite an experience! After 15 minutes on the bike, we  arrived at a hostel and settled in our room,  

Which cost 200,000 a night. When in a busy time,  a room here can cost two to three times more. It’s   chilly up here and can get cold at night, so we  don’t need an AC, but if we take a late shower,  

There won’t be any hot water, as they  use a solar water heater here. So, we   need a kettle like this. What an adventurous day! This morning, we’re going to be able to go around this area.

There are so many temples at the top of  this mountain, and I don’t think we’ll be able to   visit them all, and that is one of the reasons  why it’s called sprawling, and it is spread   over a vast area. There’s also another one being  constructed over there by the big Buddha.

That’s the biggest statue of the Happy Buddha. Alright, you say it’s the biggest statue? The biggest statue where? Well, before April 2023, this statue  was the biggest in Asia, with a height of 33.6m,   and by the time you’re watching this video, the  record has been broken by a slightly taller statue  

In Tây Ninh Province. The presence of this giant  statue of the Happy Buddha, or Laughing Buddha,   in this 2.2-hectare complex adds more spiritual  grandness and significance to the mountain. In   Vietnam, it’s quite common to spot a big  statue on a mountain like this, and there  

Are many deep reasons for these constructions,  but shortly put, placing a Buddha statue on a   mountaintop symbolizes the aspiration to reach  a higher spiritual state. It also reflects the   philosophy of living in harmony and respect with  nature. The size of the statue determines how  

Visible it is from great distances, serving as  a constant reminder of mindfulness, peace, and   compassion. Finally, these grand constructions are symbols of national pride and cultural continuity that attract pilgrims and tourists. Now, that makes a lot of sense to me. To promote harmony  

And respect for nature, of course, they have  an idyllic lake here, with lots of fish in it.   And to attract more pilgrims and tourists, they’re  selling many things, from food to souvenirs. Also, it’s early in the morning, so everybody is here.  It’s very lively. I’m surprised it’s barely what,  

8:00? Yeah, barely 8. Wow, I can’t believe  everybody’s already up and like out and about.   There were like people already wrestling around  in our hotel around like 5:00 in the morning,   and the doors were slamming like… Bum bum!  Bum bum bum bum bum!

But at least everyone’s up, awake, and lively. They’re building a lot here, so they’re expanding it even more than what it already is. So, in Vietnam, this is something that  you usually see, as we already showed a little  

Bit of it in some of the previous videos when we  passed through all of the past provinces. Buddhism   plays a very big role in the lives of all of the  locals here, so regardless of where they live,  

They still make it here in order to visit these  places because these are the lands of sacredness,   and so they want to come here in order to be  sincere and ask for good luck, good health,   prosperity for their family. So, this is  something that’s probably considered as  

An inherent part of their lifestyle and beliefs. How busy do you think this area would be during Lunar New Year? Oh, I can’t even start to imagine  like how busy it’s going to be during those   special holidays, especially Tết holiday ‘cuz  Tết holiday is more about prosperity and luck,  

And those are the things that people always  wish on those special days, and so this is   the place that a lot of people will come, so  you’ll see overcrowdedness is like through the roof here. What part of him should I rub for good luck? The belly. The belly? Thank you! 

Man, that’s going to be insane, and I can only  imagine how beautiful this place would be during   Lunar New Year, with everything so intricately  decorated, painted. And they’ll probably have   more of the construction done by then too. 

Oh, I can touch the body of the dragon now, thank… Should I transfer some to you? Come here, I’ll pat your head. Okay, good luck.  With all the places that we went through, what  we saw so far is that this is not a very good  

Time for all of the tourist attractions, but  these places are still having like a few big   groups here and there, so it’s more overcrowded  than the previous destinations that we passed   by. And what it means is that now it’s not in  his peak time for tourism in these regions,  

So they take advantage of this not busy time,  or unbusy time, in order to fix some of the   platforms or to do some maintenance or to build  and design some new statues, platforms as well,   in order to attract more tourism in the future.  And it’s really promising that all of these places  

Will be a lot better, a lot more beautiful, and  have more tourists in the future. It’s definitely worth it, and the way that they are taking care  of everything here is so respectful, so nice   to nature. I, I’m actually really enjoying this adventure. It’s not sour at all, that’s amazing.  Snack!

Oh, is in cloves like that? Yeah. Okay, I have two cloves here, in this one. It has a little bit of a pungent taste at first,  and then it’s similar to that of an apple,   like with the flavor. I was really surprised with  the tamarind. I never expected ‘cuz whenever we  

Make tamarind sauce, it’s always super sour.  It just started to sprinkle, and now there’s   like that cloudy mist going over top of this  mountain back here, with that just happening,   it makes this place feel so enchanting, like I’m  falling in love with this place little by little. 

In the next episode, we’re going to descend from  this mountaintop to go to the last province of   our Mekong Delta journey, Đồng Tháp. On this trip,  besides enjoying lots of snacks and local foods,   we’re going to one of the largest flower markets  in Vietnam to show you another aspect of what the  

Southwest has to offer. And to continue following  us to that province and many other places in   Vietnam, please give this video a thumbs up  and subscribe to our channel, so you’ll be   notified when we release new videos. Thank you for  watching, and we’ll see you in the next episode.

Welcome to Episode 26 of our Vietnam Travel series, where we explore the hidden gems of the beautiful Mekong Delta region. In this episode, we take you on a mesmerizing journey to An Giang Province, known for its breathtaking mountaintops and rich cultural heritage. Join us as we delve into the spiritual significance of this sacred land, indulge in delicious local cuisine, and witness the stunning landscapes that make An Giang a must-visit destination for travelers.

Join us on this unforgettable adventure as we uncover the beauty and charm of An Giang Province, a destination that truly captures the essence of Vietnam’s rich cultural heritage.

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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Mekong Delta Scooter Trip 🛵
00:12 Spiritual Significance of An Giang Province 🏞️
01:18 The most fun scooter ride 🛵🛵🛵
03:46 Arrival in An Giang Province 🏞️
06:48 Dining Experience: Fried Rice Delight 🍛
07:00 An Giang’s Unique Geography and Culture 🗺️
08:01 Breakfast Stop: Bun Bo Hue & Ca Phe Sua Da 🍜
09:40 Sam Mountain Exploration 🏞️
18:00 New Adventure Begins 🌄
20:18 Big Buddha Statue Construction️
22:59 Buddhism & Local Beliefs 🎍
26:08 Next Episode Preview 🌺

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