Tra Vinh

After Saigon we decided to head through the Mekong and head off to Phu Quoc Island. On the way through the Mekong we stopped in a few towns to see a bit off the local life. Tra Vinh caught my attention as it's a town known for it's high Khmer minorities living there. The Mekong was traditionally a part of lower Cambodia, however when the French came and divided things up the Mekong got sorted away. By the time the French were expelled Vietnam claimed the land and has since been doing all it can to assimilate the Khmer people into Vietnamese. Though there are many Khmer people through out the Mekong, Tra Vinh is a bit different. The town also has many Cambodian watts (temples) in and around the town. The Cambodians follow Theravada Buddhism (Indian) where as Vietnamese follow Mahayana Buddhism (Tibean-Chinese). The differences, architecturally, are vast.

We start the day off with opening up my star apple to find a worm (that red thing) in it. boo!

snake statues in the garden.

as you can see the statues and building designs start to change drastically from previous styles.

a different type of guardian in the corners than the chinese style.

much for Siam than Vietnamese

sleeping buddha

buddha on a lotus

a beautiful temple

monks working on some wood sculpture

huge cow wood sculptures. If only I had more room in my bag.

inside one of the temples

stupa