Located on the south bank of the Mekong River, on the trade waterway to Phnom Penh, Sa Dec has long been an important town and river port in Mekong Delta.
Located on the south bank of the Mekong River, on the trade waterway to Phnom Penh, Sa Dec has long been an important town and river port in Mekong Delta. Let's explore Sa Dec town with Asiatica Travel in this simple travel guide.
1. Where is Sa Dec?
Sa Dec city is a a small city in the south of Dong Thap province. Sa Dec, together with Cao Lanh, is a large and important city of the province also Mekong Delta River.
Sa Dec is about 140km from Saigon. You can travel from Saigon to Sa Dec with 4 hours by bus (Phuong Trang, Thanh Buoi and many others) or you can also move with motorbike easily.
2. What to eat in Sa Dec?
Mrs. Sam's noodle soup is an old restaurant for several generations that any Sa Dec resident has eaten here at least once in his life. In Vietnamese, it called "Hu Tieu Ba Sam" is quite famous in this city. Mrs Sam's real name is Quan Muoi (1932 - 2001), she’s Cantonese origin. She opened a noodle shop in 1968. After that, her children and grandchildren continued her career.
Another popular address for foodies in Sa Dec is Kem Xiem Mai, locates at 124 Tran Phu Street. Mai Xiem ice cream is a special ice cream includes cream, durian, fragrant roasted peanuts, and then put in some young coconut jam with alum sugar.
3. What to visit in Sa Dec?
Traveling to Sa Dec only needs 1 or 2 days is enough. You should choose Sa Dec market as the center on the map, then find hotels around this area if you want to stay in the center.
3.1. Huynh Thuy Le Old House
Huynh Thuy Le ancient house is located at 255A, Nguyen Hue street, ward 2, Sa Dec city.
Huynh Thuy Le is one of the most well-known colonial old house in the Mekong Delta. This is the living place of Mr. Huynh Thuy Le, the main male character in the novel "The Lover". The house became famous around the world when the autobiography of the writer Marguerite Duras was adapted into the film of the same name (L'Amant) in 1991. This old house is located next to Sa Dec food market. It’s also a homestay with only 1 bedroom for who want to experience a old style night in a colonial old house.
3.2. Sa Dec Market
When entering the Food Market, you will see typical tropical fruits, vegetables and agricultural products in the early morning. This place is eye-catching and extremely vibrant. This Food Market is an important focal point supplying agricultural products to the whole Dong Thap province. You should go to the market early in the morning, it will be more beautiful.
3.3. Brickyard
It is very difficult to find the brick kiln in Sa Dec, after walking around for a while to find a small brick kiln like this. The reason is that most of the brick kilns in Sa Dec have been dismantled and banned from use due to emissions of air pollution. The famous brick kiln names of Sa Dec once such as Chau Thanh, Tan Mai, An Hiep ... are now disappeared. Most brick kilns are located along the banks of the Sa Giang river for convenient transportation of goods. Nowadays, there are very few remaining manual burning brick kilns in Sa Dec.
3.4. Tan Quy Church
From Sa Dec city, cross Sat Quay bridge to Tan Quy Dong flower village, on Le Loi street along the river we see a church with colonial architecture, that is Tan Quy parish church.
3.5. Nguyen Hue Street
In addition to temples and shrines, Sa Dec also has 17 colonial old houses, some of which are over 100 years old. These houses have French Indochine -style architecture in the 1900s, some offices with this style, and are still in use today. One of the areas with bold French colonial architecture that you should visit is Nguyen Hue Street. The French built these old villas in Tan Quy Dong dune, turning Sa Dec into a town with European architectural style.
3.6. Kien An Palace
Kien An Cung, commonly known as Ong Quach pagoda, is a chinese temple located in the center of Sa Dec city, opposite the Cai Son canal. The temple was built between 1924 and 1927 by Chinese people from Fujian. The pagoda has bold Chinese architecture, with the overall shape of the majestic letter 工 consisting of three compartments, the largest of which is the middle one, which is the shrine. Kien An Cung Pagoda is located right in the center, very easy to visit. However, please note that the temple will be closed during lunch break.
3.7. Queen of Heaven pagoda
Queen of Heaven Pagoda, also known as Ba Thien Hau Sa Dec Pagoda, is also an important cultural destination in Sa Dec travel itinerary. Queen of Heaven Pagoda was built by the Chinese community in 1867 to serve as a place of worship and for local community activities. Previously, the temple was only located on a narrow campus, mainly made of bamboo and leaves, proposed to be built by the Fujian Chinese group. In 1886, the pagoda began to be restored and built more, expanding the area, building bricks, paving stones, decorating, so the pagoda has a larger scale and colorful colors.
Most of the materials for the restoration of the temple were brought from China. Currently, the pagoda is conserved by people form 4 communities Guangdong, Teochew, Hakka, and Fujian, taking turns to preserve and take care of incense smoke to worship.
3.8. Vinh Phuoc Communal House
Vinh Phuoc communal house is an old communal house and a relic in Sa Dec city built in the first half of the 19th century. Initially, the house was built simply. Later, a family nearby donated more land, so in 1904, the communal house was rebuilt to be spacious and large-scale like today. This cultural relic is also located in the center of Sa Dec city, close to Ba Thien Hau pagoda, so you can go along the same route.
3.9. Lotus Temple
From the center of Sa Dec city, you drive motorbike to Chau Thanh district in about 30 minutes according to Google map. It will take 45 minutes to reach the lotus leaf pagoda, also known as Phuoc Kien pagoda. According to legend, Phuoc Kien Pagoda is a small temple established before the reign of King Thieu Tri. In 1966, the pagoda was bombed, completely collapsed and left many bomb craters around. In the floating season, the diameter of the lotus can reach 3m, in the dry season about 2.5m. This type of lotus is native to the Amazon region, the scientific name is Victoria regia. Local people call it lotus king.
3.10. Flour Village
Another interesting place in Sa Dec trip that Asiatica Travel recommends to visit is the famous hundred-year-old flour village. From a rich source of raw materials such as broken rice, Sa Dec rice flour village has formed and developed over the past 100 years with raw materials to make pho, noodle soup, vermicelli, cakes and instant products... even exported to Europe. The way to get here is very easy. From Sa Dec center, you search for the keyword "Sa Dec flour village". There are many households on both sides of the river who make flour and produce the famous Sa Dec noodle soup.
3.11. Other places
In addition to the destinations in your Sa Dec trip, depending on the schedule and time, you can also refer to some other spots such as the very famous Sa Dec flower village specializing in flower. Or go to a very unique boat-building village in Rach Ba Dai. Sa Dec flower village is only beautiful in the Tet season, normally people grow more ornamental plants.
