This afternoon I made my first trip to Cholon, Saigon's Chinatown. Back in the day when the "northern aggressors" were running things here, Cholon was a suburb for the colonists. The ethnic Chinese population descended from them are still congregated in this area.For tourists, the main attractions in Cholon are a chaotic indoor market and pagoda hopping. Downtown, every motorbike and cyclo driver who spots me asks if I want to go to Cholon and shows me a list of the attractions he'll take me to, fee negotiable.
But somehow when I stepped out of the hotel this afternoon and made the "vroom vroom" motion with my hands to indicate I was looking for a motorbike ride, I got the only driver in the city who didn't know where Cho Binh Thay is. He studied my map and a crowd gathered around giving him lots of advice before we set off.
And we got super lost. I knew there was no water to cross, but we went over several canals before my driver started asking for directions from the guys who sell gasoline by the jar full on street corners. I ended up with an extra tour of about 30 minutes through industrial zones and shanty towns. When we got to the market he asked if I wanted him to wait until I was done to take him back.After a walk through the market, I started--on foot--looking for Cha Tam Church and missed a turn and stumbled across Ong Bon Pagoda.
Cha Tam Church is the center of Saigon's ethnic-Chinese Christian community. Attached to the church was some kind of pre-school or kindergarten, which I could see through a fence. I stopped and watched for awhile, looking across the courtyard they used for a playground and into the classroom under a veranda. Little kids about five years old were sitting in a circle chanting some kind of lesson. Eventually the ones facing my direction noticed me and started waving, one at a time and then spreading to about a third of the class. I very badly wanted to wave back, but I didn't want to encourage them and get them in trouble. I hustled off before I started any commotion. Inside the church there was some kind of afternoon prayer service being led by a nun.
The church is also well-known as the place where President Diem took refuge during the coup in 1963. He surrendered and walked out alive but didn't survive the ride back downtown.
