Teacher Trekker

Dalat – Church Hunting Against the Clock

As Thanh and I were riding around Dalat I noticed that there were number of interesting looking Roman Catholic churches. If I had the time I would have liked to stop and take some photographs, but by the end of the day it was raining and late, so I didn’t want to inconvenience Thanh anymore than I already did. I assumed I would not have the time to get to any of these locations unless I stayed in Dalat an extra day, but I already booked my transport.

Before we went on our full day tour, we arranged transport to Nha Trang with our hotel the day before our departure. We were scheduled for a noon departure time. I decided the night before that I was going to wake up early. I did so, but got caught up uploading content on my social media sites and was already pressed for time. I had just around an hour and a half before I needed to check out, so I rolled the dice and hoped for the best.

Easy Riders Come to the Rescue Again

I walked to the Easy Riders location just outside the hotel to take me to find one specific church that Thanh and I passed the day prior. All I wanted to do was briefly stop and take some photographs. The stained glass windows looked very pretty as we rode by, but I didn’t get a thorough look. I also wasn’t thinking I would get back there the next day, so I didn’t inquire about the church as Thanh took me back to my hotel. As a result, I only had a verbal description and general location on the map of the church I was attempting to go to. When I walked up to the agency site, the motorcycle guides were willing to help me. I told them where I was attempting to go. There was lots of talking in Vietnamese and then mutual agreement. I put on my helmet, jumped on the back and we were on our way.

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Church # 1 – Cathedral of Dalat

My driver took me to a church. It wasn’t the church I was attempting to go to. Something got lost in translation. I was attempting to describe large stained glass windows, but I believe they only heard the large part so I was taken to the church with a large tower on a large hill near the city center. Instantaneously, I told him this was not the correct location. We stopped anyway, and I walked around the grounds taking a few photographs. I wasn’t happy, but I made the most of it.

Instead I was standing in front of the Cathedral of Dalat. Locals refer to the church as the Cathedral of the Chicken because of a rooster weathervane on the top of the 47m tower. Construction began in the early 1930’s and took over a decade to complete. It was built in a style similar to many of the Roman Catholic Churches of Europe during the time period. The bell tower can also serve as a landmark for tourists attempting to locate the city center.

Before we left, my driver and I had a brief discussion about where I was attempting to go. His English was worse than the travel agent that sent my driver to the incorrect location, so I wasn’t very hopeful that we were going to end up at the correct church, but I still had almost an hour of time before checkout so I decided to continue rolling the dice.

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Church # 2 – Nhà Thờ Thánh Tâm

That’s when it happened. On the way to the church he thought I was talking about we drove right past the stained glass windows I was looking for. A little bit of luck never hurts. I yelled for him to stop as I pointed at the church. Clearly he was going to take me to a different church. Now that I was standing in front of Nhà Thờ Thánh Tâm (I am still unable to identify its translated name in English) it was clear that the windows looked nicer at 25 m.p.h. than standing in front of them. The building and its windows were both very modern. They were much more impressive at faster speeds. I was unable to go inside the church, but I was able to walk around and take photographs of the exterior of the building and the surrounding grounds. There were many ornate statues some of which infused Roman Catholic iconography and values with local customs and beliefs. I spent almost a half an hour walking around before I realized I needed to get going.

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Church # 3 – The Domaine de Marie Church/Mai Anh Church 

Suddenly, much more pressed for time, I told my driver it was time to head back to the hotel. I jumped on the bike, and we retraced our steps. Just as we were about to pull up to the tour agency location near the hotel my driver shifted gears and kept working his way up the hill. Quickly and now in a panic I told him to turn around and questioned where he was going. In broken English he told me, “one more stop, quick stop, my church, prettiest in Dalat”. At that point we were already there, and I just had to trust him. I was equally surprised to find out that my driver was Catholic. Approximately 20% of the population follows the Roman Catholic faith. The question that still lingers in my mind is did the other motorcycle drivers at Easy Riders give him the tour because he was Catholic or was it simple luck of the draw?

My driver took me to The Domaine de Marie Church, also referred to as Mai Anh Church or Cherry Church. The church also serves as the home of the Roman Catholic nuns of the Mission of Charity. The grounds contain the main church and two convents. It was built in a 17th century French style during the 1930’s. The church is located at the top of a large hill that allowed for some impressive panoramic views of the surrounding area. Once again, I was unable to get inside the church, but was free to walk around the grounds and take photographs. There were many religious statues and vibrantly colored flowers spread out all over the property. There was a statue of the Virgin Mary that resembles the image of a Vietnamese woman. The roofs of the buildings have been modeled after the design of Nha Rong, which is a typical type of stilt house in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Aesthetically, it looks considerably different to other churches built during the same era. The church is a good example of the interaction between the Vietnamese and French cultures that is demonstrative of Dalat’s colonial roots.

I don’t know if it was the prettiest, as my driver said, but I was very pleased that he shared something about himself with me. Before he took me back down the hill, my driver pointed out a few religious icons that he had in his possession. He had a Virgin Mary sticker or decal on the underside of his windshield that I didn’t notice until he pointed it out. He was also wearing a bracelet with saints and crosses. I was pleased to see he was free to observe his religion, because such freedoms were not always allowed at the height of communist rule in Vietnam.

Conclusions

Overall, I had a very fast paced morning. I started slow, but once the ball got rolling things started to pick up quickly. My driver raced me around Dalat on my quest to find the church with stained glass windows. After working our way around the city and visiting three different churches all with different artistic styles, it was time to leave Dalat and continue my journey. I’ll be the first to admit I am not very religious, but the morning was very calming despite the joys of riding on the back of a motorbike all morning. The architecture varied at each church I visited. The only problems were the constant and often painful bouncing on my tiny seat and the loud often deafening rumbling of the motorcycle made it physically and pardon my pun a total pain in the butt. At the same time, I was able to spend my last few hours riding around, visiting a few more sites and exploring the city of Dalat. Overall, it was a very productive morning.