I found Vietnam's unexpected highlights on a Mekong river cruise

The riverside city of Sa Dec is home to some of the most intriguing sights along the Mekong River. 

“This isn’t a tourist market. This is a locals’ market where you can really see what life is like on the Mekong.”

As he shares some of the highlights for our day ahead in Sa Dec our APT Mekong Serenity cruise director, Tran Khanh Long, tries to prepare our group for some unusual sights. It’s been 12 years since I last visited this traditional Vietnamese market and I remember my wide-eyed moments all too well. I also remember the things that made me smile and am ready to feel all the feels again.

Getting to the Sa Dec market is part of the fun, as our long wooden tender boat cruises along the canals that link this market hub to the Mekong and beyond. Cameras and phones snap away as we pass floating houses and boats with “Mekong eyes” painted on the bows for good luck and safe journeys. Then the white market building comes into view, with a long corrugated-iron roof stretching along the river showing just how far the hundreds of stalls go.

As we walk past the vendors there’s a lot to take in. Here you can buy freshly skinned frogs and rats, live baby turtles, ducklings and baby chicks, and dead or alive chickens that almost seem resigned to their fate. You might get splashed by fish flipping and flopping in bowls as you keep out of the path of bikes piled high with fruit and vegetables.

Fish sellers at the Sa Dec market.

After exploring the Sa Dec Market it’s only a couple minutes’ walk to one of the most beautiful old homes on the Mekong, the Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House.

This unusual riverfront house was built in 1895 and renovated in 1917 to create an intriguing blend of French and oriental architecture. Look up to see the Chinese-style roof and down to take in the French tiles in a structure where bricks imported from France join wood from Cambodia.

My eyes are constantly drawn to intricate details in the woodwork, including carved and gilt birds and flowers, and mother-of-pearl inlay doors. In the entrance hall visitors can see photos of the previous owners along with stills from a movie largely set in the house.

Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House, made famous by Marguerite Duras' The Lover.

As the former residence of Huynh Thuy Le, the son of a Chinese merchant, this is the house that many know from celebrated French writer Marguerite Duras’ 1984 novel L’amant (The Lover). While Duras has described her story about her 18-month affair with Le when she was just 15 as an airport novel written when she was drunk, it became an international bestseller and won the Prix Goncourt literary prize before being made into a movie in 1992. At the time the house was being used as a government office so missed the chance to be captured on film, but after being recognised as a national relic in 2009 it is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in town.

After a short boat ride to the other side of the river we arrive at the most colourful temple on our Mekong cruise. Blue panels with sky scenes and bunches of flowers decorate the yellow exterior of the Cao Dai Temple, where an all-seeing eye surrounded by rays of blue light looks out over the river as we step ashore.

The colourful Cao Dai Temple of Sa Dec. Picture: Amanda Woods

One of the most popular religions in Vietnam, Caodaism originated in southern Vietnam in the 1920s and offers its own unique interpretation of beliefs drawn from Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism and more. As we step inside the temple there are so many vibrant and intricate scenes to take in that I barely know where to look.

At the front of the temple cobalt-blue curtains that look like angels’ wings frame the Cao Dai eye. This sacred symbol of the all-seeing divine presence is joined by colourful dragons, cranes perched on turtles, and figures of Lao Tze, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and more.

Above our heads fluffy white clouds and silver stars add their day and night touches to the blue sky scene, while around the temple I take in a mix of mythical creatures and more familiar symbols including Hinduism’s Om, Islam’s crescent moon and the Christian cross. And once again I realise I’m smiling at the unexpected in Sa Dec.

APT river ship Mekong Serenity.

The writer was a guest of APT. The 11-day Spiritual Cambodia & the Mekong itinerary includes a seven-night Mekong River cruise, from $6595 per person, with a Fly Free & Save promotion of $1000 per couple.

3 more Mekong shore excursions

1. Take a ride

Enjoy uninterrupted views of Phnom Penh from the front of one of the cycle rickshaws that have been a fixture of the city since the 1930s.

2. Feel blessed

Join Buddhist monks for a traditional Khmer ceremony in the former Cambodian capital of Oudong to cleanse bad spirits and bring in good fortune.

3. The Killing Fields

Visiting one the Khmer Rouge’s execution sites and the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide is a powerful and disturbing history lesson you’ll never forget.

Originally published as I found Vietnam's unexpected highlights on a Mekong river cruise