5 Best Sights in Side Trips from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Le Thi Hong Thuy, a 16-year-old girl, washed up on Long Hai Beach nearly 200 years ago and the locals buried her on Co Son Hill. According to legend, her ghost began visiting seafarers and warning them of impending bad weather, and she is now regarded as a goddess who protects the local fishing fleet. This temple is dedicated to her, and every year, on the 10th, 11th, and 12th days of the second lunar month, the it hosts the Dinh Co Festival, which includes a colorful parade and boat races, and attracts thousands of people from surrounding regions. The views of Long Hai Beach and beyond from the temple terraces are magnificent.

The town of Tay Ninh is home to Cao Daism, an indigenous hybrid religion founded in 1926 by a mystic named Ngo Minh Chieu, and its impressive and brightly colored temple, the Cao Dai Holy See. The noon ceremony (others are held at 6 am, 6 pm, and midnight) at the temple is a fascinating and colorful religious vignette. A finely tuned hierarchical procession of men and women of all ages parades through the temple's great hall, where painted columns twined with carved dragons support sky-blue arched vaulting. Panels of stained glass with a cosmic-eye motif punctuate the walls. You are permitted to watch and take snapshots from the mezzanine. Ignore any feeling of complicity in what appears to be a collective voyeuristic sacrilege; the ceremony goes on as though you were not there.

The original temple was built in 1785 to honor Phi Yen, one of the 21 wives of Nguyen emperor Gia Long. After the Tay Son rebellion, Gia Long fled to Con Son Island with his family and retainers. From there, he sent emissaries to France to ask for assistance in repressing the uprising. Phi Yen urged him not to deal with the French and was imprisoned for her efforts, suspected of sympathizing with the rebels. As the emperor sailed away from the island, her four-year-old son cried for her, angering his father, who threw him overboard (or so the story goes). A tiger and an ape freed Phi Yen from her prison and she stayed on the island, tending her son's grave, until taking her own life "after an unfortunate encounter with a man". The existing Phi Yen Temple was rebuilt in 1958 so pilgrims could pay tribute to the former queen, revered for her loyalty and honor.

The name translates as Cloudy Hill Palace, and it's a picturesque place to visit, not so much for the temple—even though it is quite beautiful—but for the panoramic view it offers of Con Dao Town, An Hai Lake, and Con Son Bay below. The temple was built in 1964 for the prison officers and government officials stationed on Con Dao and is now considered a memorial to the martyrs who died during Vietnam's fight for independence.

Like many seaside villages in Vietnam, Vung Tau has a temple dedicated to Ca Ong, Mr. Whale, the guardian angel of the seas. This humble place of worship, with its small collection of whalebones, is an interesting place to visit, although there is no information in English to explain the beliefs and rituals of the temple.