Suoi Tien Cultural Theme Park

The World's First Buddhist Waterslide Park

Suoi Tien Cultural Theme Park is a Vietnamese water-filled fantasy land, located rather unromantically next to a rubbish dump 15 kilometres South of Ho Chi Minh City. Suoi Tien, or "the fairy stream," is the world's first water park devoted to Buddhism, specifically the Southeast Asian animistic form of Buddhism. The animism works well for the theme park; instead of Mickey and Daffy, Suoi Tien has chosen the Dragon, Unicorn, Tortoise, and Phoenix as its sacred animals, used thematically throughout the massive water park. Furthermore, workers in golden monkey outfits roam the park taking pictures with visitors and causing "mischief."

The park focuses on Vietnamese history, folklore, and of course on the Buddha himself. Among the parks many features are an oversized golden dragon whose mouth contains a neon haloed shrine to Buddha, avenues lined with pillars in the shape of giant elephant tusks, a swimming pool surrounded by a massive concrete facade of dragons and a giant rotating frog sculpture at the entrance. Particularly delightful are the twelve story face's of the Buddhist sages - with water slides emerging from their beards.