South East Asian Trips

There are dozens of pagodas and temples, many of them set in caves, around Sam Mountain (Nui Sam), which is about 6Km southwest of Chau Doc out on Bao Ho Thoai street. The Chinese influence is obvious and Sam Mountain is a favourite spot for ethnic Chinese (both pilgrims from Vietnam and abroad).

There are dozens of pagodas and temples, many of them set in caves, around Sam Mountain (Nui Sam), which is about 6Km southwest of Chau Doc out on Bao Ho Thoai street. The Chinese influence is obvious and Sam Mountain is a favourite spot for ethnic Chinese (both pilgrims from Vietnam and abroad).

Climbing the peak is, of course, the highlight of a visit to Sam Mountain. The views from the top are spectacular (weather permitting) and you can easily look out over Cambodia. There's a military outpost on the summit, a legacy of the days when the Khmer Rouge made cross-border ra.Js and massacred Vietnamese civilians. The outpost is still functional and the soldiers are quite used to tourists taking photos now; however, you should ask permission and perhaps ply the soldiers with cigarettes before taking photos of them or anything that could be considered militarily sensitive.

Walking down is easier than walking up, so if you want to cheat, have a motorbike take you to the summit. The road to the top is on the east side of the mountain. You can walk down along a peaceful, traffic-free trail on the north side which will bring you to the main temple area. The summit road has been decorated with amusement-park ceramic dinosaurs and the like. But there are also some small shrines and pavilions, which add a bit of charm and also remind you that this is indeed Vietnam and not Disneyland.