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Paul Dudley | profile | all galleries >> 22 Overseas Trips >> Vietnam 2007 >> 16: The Cao Dai Great Temple tree view | thumbnails | slideshow | map

1: Hanoi | 2: Around Sa Pa | 3: Bac Ha Market | 4: Halong Bay | 5: On the way to somewhere else | 6: Villages for Ceramics, Silk or Furniture | 8: Tam Coc: A rowboat through caves | 7: Phat Diem, a very Vietnamese Cathedral | 9: Hué – Kings, Wars and Recovery | 10: South from Hué | 11: Bach Ma National Park | 12: Hoi An | 13: Nha Trang | 14: Buon Ma Thuot, an elephant, and a waterfall | 15: Saigon | 16: The Cao Dai Great Temple | 17: The Mekong Delta | 18: Saigon Water Gardens

16: The Cao Dai Great Temple

Look up "Cao Dai" in Google or read about it in the Lonely Planet Vietnam book. It still won't prepare you for the "wow!" of entering the Great Temple. There are more "wow" experiences as the faithful enter slowly in their magnificent robes and a different muted "wow" when the quiet repetitive chanting begins from the choir. And these people don't ask the tourists for money for any of this. Not a hint, not even in the car park.
Slow Progress
Slow Progress		 Outside the Mother Temple
Outside the "Mother Temple"		 Mother Temple
"Mother Temple"		 In the Mother Temple
In the "Mother Temple"		 In the Mother Temple
In the "Mother Temple"
Cao Dai Security Officer
Cao Dai Security Officer		 In the Mother Temple
In the "Mother Temple"		 Punishment in Hell
Punishment in Hell		 Punishment for Lying
Punishment for Lying		 Ho Phap Buong
Ho Phap Buong
The Great Temple - 1
The Great Temple - 1		 The Great Temple - 2
The Great Temple - 2		 The Great Temple - 3
The Great Temple - 3		 Hot tourist, cool Caodaists
Hot tourist, cool Caodaists		 Attendant keeping tourists at bay
Attendant keeping tourists at bay
Altar, with the Divine Eye
Altar, with the "Divine Eye"		 Quiet, slow entry of robed priests
Quiet, slow entry of robed priests		 Even the tourists in the gallery are quiet
Even the tourists in the gallery are quiet		 On this side, women only
On this side, women only		 Priest in red
Priest in red
Lady Buddhas
Lady Buddhas		 Heads bowed, quiet chanting continues
Heads bowed, quiet chanting continues		 Men on the right, women on the left
Men on the right, women on the left		 Choir chanting
Choir chanting		 Cao Dai Musician - 1
Cao Dai Musician - 1
Cao Dai Musician - 2
Cao Dai Musician - 2		 Cao Dai Musician - 3
Cao Dai Musician - 3		 From the rear door, left
From the rear door, left		 From the rear door, right
From the rear door, right		 Depiction of the Three Saints
Depiction of the Three Saints
Explanation
Explanation

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