SA DEC - Attractions

MARGUERITE DURAS’ CHILDHOOD HOME is commonly name-dropped in association with Sa Dec, but not its address. (No guidebook lists it.) If you must see it – actually touch its hallowed yellowed walls – the two-story villa is at 255 Nguyen Hue St. Some of the film adaptation of Duras’ The Lover was filmed in the area, though director Jean-Jacques Annaud was stunned by overpopulation and poverty he found, not the ‘untouched, still Asian’ setting he was hoping to set his colonial period piece. Still, the house at 196A Tran Van Voi St was good enough to serve as the home in the film.

More popular – and quite Asian, Mr Assaud! –is the FLOWER MARKET, located about 2km north of the center on Le Loi Street, which runs north on the east side of the central Sa Dec River. The road, lined with fishing boats and a couple pagodas (the colorful Thanh Tat is about a fourth of the way to the market), makes its way to a small canal going eastward.

Take the road just before it to reach the most popular stop, TU TON ROSE GARDEN, with 6000 hectares of side-by-side flowers and plants you’re free to wander through. Try to visit the market in the morning, as things close up by 1pm or so.

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