People in Binh Duong Province buy incense sticks, candles and decoration last week to make offerings at pagodas in the first days of the lunar year
After the traditional Lunar New Year festival, or Tet Nguyen Dan, people, particularly Buddhists, often pilgrim to pagodas all over Vietnam.
Luu Van An, a food trader in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, says he and his family usually visit pagodas in the first days of the lunar year to pray for good health and luck.
“Going on a pilgrimage is a chance for me to enjoy the tranquil atmosphere at the pagodas and refresh myself after a year of hard work,” An says.
One of the famous destinations of pilgrims in the southern region is Ba Pagoda in Thu Dau Mot Municipality in Binh Duong Province. The pagoda on Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in Phu Cuong Ward, some 30 kilometers from HCMC, attracts a large crowd who comes there to pray for luck, happiness and success.
The pagoda management says some 100,000 people visited the Ba Pagoda in the first nine days of the Year of the Rooster 2005, or from February 9 to last Thursday. And even more visitors, more than 10,000 a day, are expected during Tet Nguyen Tieu on the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the first lunar month, or tomorrow and on Wednesday.
The Ba Pagoda Festival takes place every year during the first lunar month. Its main ritual, a procession carrying the Ba (madam) statue on a palanquin through the town, falls in Tet Nguyen Tieu.
In addition to Ba Pagoda in Binh Duong, tourists can visit large pagodas in HCMC, such as Vinh Nghiem on Nguyen Van Troi Street in District 3, Phuoc Hai on Mai Thi Luu Street and Ngoc Hoang on Truong Dinh Street in District 1, Thien Mu on Nguyen Trai Street in District 5 and Khmer on Hong Lac Street in Tan Binh District.
A transport company on Le Quang Dinh Street in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District says it has operated at least 10 trips a day to several pagodas in the city for small traders and other people.
Travel agencies in HCMC are also offering arranged tours to other sacred places, such as Ba Den Mountain in the southern province of Tay Ninh, Ta Cu Mountain in the central province of Binh Thuan and Ba Chua Xu Pagoda on Sam Mountain in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.
Fiditourist director Nguyen Duc Hy says his company organized tours for some 1,000 people to sights, including famous pagodas, in several northern provinces during Tet.
Nguyen Ba Can, director of Dalattoserco Travel Center in HCMC, says more tourists have come to pagodas in the Central Highlands resort city of Dalat than in previous months. The agency has also organized some excursions to pagodas in Chau Doc Municipality in An Giang.
You can book pilgrimages at these travel agencies in HCMC:
Fiditourist, 127 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, District 1. Tel: (08) 914 1414
Saigontourist Travel Service Co., 49 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1. Tel: (08) 829 8914
