I woke up at 5am and it was still dark outside, but I was not really sure what time it was since this is Vietnam time. I took a taxi to chua Binh An which I have never been to. One of my co-workers Minh had introduced me to this Pagoda and had mentioned about the children he had met. We had spoken to the monks only via the phone although Minh has visited the pagoda multiple times and recommend that I take some them on this trip.
While in transit, the tour group we hired had already arrived. The taxi driver was fumbling for the address as we arrived but it was unmistakenable since there were a group of children standing out front with their monastic dress and distinctive shaven heads. The lead monk greeted us with excitement and enthusiasm. She said many of the children were anticipating this trip and woke up early at 3am. I did not anticipate that the children were so young since our trip does require a certain amount of walking. The children that came with us included young toddlers that were 2 years old. They were quite adorable but I was afraid that this was going to be a challenge for them.
On the bus ride, the oldest monk sat next to us. She explained that this pagoda “Binh An”, meaning peace had 66 elderly people which the pagoda took care of but six had past away so there were now 60. On our bus, there were 26 children and four older ones that help take care of the children. It seems that no child was left behind since all the children came along. The youngest child was then placed on my lap without crying, she was very well behaved. The tour guide instructed the children to sing since he reviewed the video tape from our last trip. Anh Thanh, the tour guide, did not join us on the last trip to Vung Tau but he is from the same tour company. Some of the children clapped and sang along but anh Thanh soon realized that many of the children were too young to sing so he just let the children be.
The weather was raining in the early hours as we arrived. It was coming down sheets and buckets. We were afraid that this would damper the experience since it is an open door amusement park. We took shelter under the overhang in the waiting area in front of the ticket counter. Anh Thanh then passed out sandwiches and bottled water since many of the children had not yet eaten. This was our first foray into the public eye and we were beginning to get a lot of stares. The children had their orange and white monk uniform along with their half shaven heads which caused quite a stir. There are different reactions from various on lookers. The other children look upon our group as strange, foreign and absurd group due to the hair and clothing. The other adults seem to look upon the children with a certain amount of pitty and sense of care.
The rain subsided as we proceeded to the entrance gates. Many of the attractions were still not fully opened yet since we were one of the first ones to arrive on this Sunday morning. We first visited the zoo area where there were monkeys. The zoo keepers did not allow us to go through the entire area since it was still being worked on. The zoo is rather old and dilapidated compared to US standards but the children were still thrilled by each animal that they encountered. We went from the shrieking monkeys to the slow moving elephants. There were goats and even an abandon rabbit which the children were able to pet.
While we were all making faces at the monkeys, my sister called me on the cel phone. Our conversation in English turned some heads among the children since they didn’t know what to make of me. They knew from my dress and shoes that I was not local but they could not make out the foreign tongue and where I was from.
The snakes were abundance and did give the children chills but the crocodiles were the highlight in the zoo. The pond of crocodiles was sunken so we walked on top and got a chance to peer down and witness the deadly animals sprawling in the morning sun. There was fear among the children since these were ferocious animals but they seem to enjoy the experience since the cages provided a sense safety and distance between the animals and the children.
The amusement park is massive and there are several sections. It seems to have been developed in multiple phases. We walked casually but with the group of very young toddlers, we had to make many stops. This gave me an opportunity to take some pictures but our stop was also an attraction in it selve. The majority of guests at this park are local Vietnamese but this still was an unusual sight to have a large group of orphaned children traveling in this manner. We had many amateur photographers snapping pictures of the children at a distance or using them as a backdrop as they posed themselves in front of our group.
Anh Thanh made reservations at a restaurant inside the park. We took over three tables and vegetarian meals were ordered for the older children and monks. The children sat very quietly and politely as I passed out the bowles and chopsticks. I sat next a very bright 5th grader named Quynh. He told me many of the children did not have parents but he had a mother that couldn’t afford to take care of him any more. She barely made a living selling goods at the market so she had to give him up to the Pegoda. He asked if where I was from and guessed that I was either speaking French or English on the phone earlier. I explained that I was from America and I was only visiting for a short time. He then explained that several of the older children are also learning English. Quynh was dressed in a white robe and with his hair style; it was difficult to make out his gender. Perhaps that is the purpose of being a monk. Quynh asked me how long I had planned to stay in Vietnam among other inquisitive questions that were very insightful and mature for such a little person. I feel that he will go far and recommended that he also study English since that may lead to many opportunities.
The children drew more attraction as they sat next to the “ho do sen” water pond. In the mid day’s heat, they were anticipating to cool down and swim. Quynh told me that they were invited to this park once before and that it is famous for their water park but they did not get to go swimming last time. My guess is that the water park had a separate admission fee so that may have deterred their previous hosts. Anh Thanh, the tour guide asked all the children if they were hot? Are they ready to swim? They all replied in accordance with great eagerness and anticipation.
The water potion of the park is definitely the main attraction of the entire park. Most of the attractions we had visited in morning had just a handful of visitors. It seemed to be sparsely attended. However the gates to this water portion of the park park was like entering into a different park all together. There people of varying ages. There were tall three story thrill water slides that attracted the older groups while the shallow pools with their own little water slides were sprinkled with little ones. The children were so excited; they did not go into the dressing room. Right in front of the entrance gate, they stripped but naked quickly jumped into their swimming attire. Some of the girls had swimming suites but most of them just had t-shirts or wore their traditional monk outfits. The younger children ran right into the pool as if they had never seen a pool before in their life. The pool had a gradual gradient depth since from several inches to waste level. The children ran into the pond with great expediency. Their no fear attitude gave me caution since I was concerned for their safety.
There were several body guards equipped with whistles and a megaphone. They would bark out violations as warnings to any child breaking pool rules. Shortly after our group joined the pack, whistles were blowing followed by violations yelps were flying left and right. One child was being splashed and was drinking water, another child had stripped of his bathing suite, and yet another child was not supervised while going on the slides.
I did not bring any swimming trunks which was a major oversight. The monks with their monk outfits joined the children in the water. I had to improvise so shoes came off, t-shirt draped on the adjacent bush and with just jeans, splashed into the waters as well. My eyes and ears were on full alert scanning and rushing to each child that was in “violations”. They quickly fell into order and continued with their frolic in the sun and water. The life guards megaphones subsided as the children learned to behave according to the rules.
The children welcome my entrance into their world of water wonderland. It was all fun and games as they started to splash water. The young 2 year old were all crying and were placed on the water’s edge not knowing out to defend themselves from the ravages of slashing waters from the 7 year olds. I became a new target and upset the balance of the water wars once I entered the field. In the warm sun, any slight drop of water on my skin felt shockingly cold. My reactions drew more attack as one after another splashed more water. I retreated at first not wanting to escalate the volumes of flying water. My retreat to the water’s edge only drew water to the toddlers which lead to more tears. I then went on the offensive using one hand to block and the other to splash. I was able to keep a constant flow of water in the eyes of the opponents while still maintaining dry eyes.
The fun games had gone to my head as well. With victory at hand, I took a break in the shade. The children played restlessly running to the slides and splashing water for hours. They were just a bundle of energy that was ignited by the water like fire to gasoline. It was a chemical reaction that is unstoppable and seems to have a life of its own. I sat down with the tour guide as he generously offered me a “bay ooop” soft drink. He mentioned that he had brought other groups of children to this park and every single time, it was the same. The moment they get into the water, they turn into another creature and it is pure 100% fun. He would just then sit back and not have to do much as a guide. He did admit however, that he never had a group with such young children since our group had the youngest bunch he had ever toured with. He drew comparisons between this group and the ones taken to the beaches of Vung Tau. He explains that in that trip, the beaches were cheaper since there were no admissions fees. He had a formulaic view upon these excursions and there was a certain calculation to measure the currency of tour guiding. I didn’t really think of it that way however. The joy and the amount of fun that the children were basking in as we surveyed from our shade area next to the pool were priceless.
As the afternoon started to wane, the lead monks signaled for the children to get dress to head home. The toddlers had pink little school uniforms they changed into. It was difficult to get the rest of children out of the water since they did not want this to end. The five and six year old children just changed their attire right there near the gate where we originally convene for them to get into the water. The older children did go to find the dressing room.
While waiting for the children to get dressed, we drew more attention as people walked by. A young grand mother with her 5 year old son was passing by when she noticed the dress of the monks of our group. She was trying to discipline her grandson and was negotiating with him that if he did not comply with her wishes, she would send them to the orphanages to live amongst these children. It was a form of a threat that was later emphasized when the mother and father came. They even came up to one of our child and have the boy shake hands to make the experience more real. In the parents’ eyes, this would never be the case since their son is has the comforts of a family. It is intended as one in many lessons that they must use to put fear into their son’s behavior outbursts. It was very effective since the boy couldn’t separate what was a meant as a lesson and what was real. The whole interaction between the family and the son seem to be a great opportunity to give their children perspective onto other’s children’s’ difficult plight but I think it was having a difficult impact on the children within our group. This trip seems to put them on the public spotlight since many people came up to take pictures. It was a strange sense of a combination of freak show and celebrity status. There was an adoration and admiration with care and sympathy combined with this oddity in society which is to be placed next to their “normal” life as something to be remembered on their album book along with all the other zoo animals they saw on their trip to the amusement park. The grand mother and parents statements threatening their child that he would be sentenced to a life of destitute among these children also sent a very negative message to our kids. I felt helpless in the situation in that there was forces that were bigger than what I am able affect. With other pavorazzi gawking eyes, a crowd was formed. This did seem to help in that it diluted the statements coming from this particular family.
After the children dressed, we all sluggishly walked across the bridge where we came from in the early morning hours back to the bus depot. All the enthusiasm and sense of anticipation which was so apparent in the children’s eyes at this same path this morning has evaporated and replaced with physical fatigue yet filled with satiation. We than sat down in the front of the park not too far from where we took shelter from the morning rain. As we sat there, the little children wanted sit on my lap while the others explored my camera to snap pictures. When the bus came, the young child sitting next to me would raise his hand as utter the words ‘um…” which means to carry and hold. I carried the child to the bus and placed him in a chair next to an older child. One of the monks expressed how children can gain a great sense of trust in a short time. While waiting to get into the amusement park, they saw me as a stranger, and now leaving the park, they saw entrust their care in my arms. It is quite a touching experience for this connection to be made. It is an odd site when other park goers stare at these head shaven children monk outfits hand in hand with an American in t-shirt and jeans. While holding this child in my arms it seems to transcend any differences.
The children were exhausted and seem to fall asleep instantly when sitting on the ride home. I was also struck by the overwhelming experiences of the day. My eye lids seem to be heavy as I dozed off as well. Sitting near the back, I did not realized until I heard the faint announcement from anh Thanh on the megaphone that we have arrived. He must have made the announcement without the megaphone earlier and perhaps only used the megaphone for my benefit since it appears that all the children had already left the bus. Sitting up on the empty bus, it felt like a fading dream. They were all gone and I didn’t even get a chance to say good bye. I then de-boarded the bus trying to soak in the experiences of the day trying to decipher what was real. In a daze, I questioned if it was all a dream… if it was a dream, it was the most beautiful one filled with angels.
