A few kilometers outside the town proper of Puerto Princesa in the Philippines lies a ghost town of sorts. The Vietnamese Village sits off the side of the road with a small gated entrance.
Arriving in a tricycle after a short drive from town I entered the village and didn’t see anyone. If you have ever ridden in a Philippine tricycle you know they are not built for guys like me that stand 6ft plus and like to eat.
After extracting myself from the caged passenger compartment I notice the church, gift shop, restaurant and houses. I still don’t see any people.
My trike driver runs off to the restaurant and returns telling me we should drive around since they have some dogs running wild that may attack. After a quick ride to the far side of what is appearing more and more like a ghost town we come to the Temple.
Now the Philippines is mostly a Catholic country and it was the Catholic church that helped bring Vietnamese refugees to the country and supported them. I guess that is why the church was built.
Vietnamese however are mostly Buddhist so they built a temple. At least they have a couple of choices.
Deciding to walk around a little and brave the attack dogs I head out down a street and notice a woman in the fields. Being the first person I have seen in town I ask if she speaks English, which she does, and she relates the history of the village.
After the US-Vietnamese War several thousand Vietnamese fled the communist regime and a lot wound up in the Philippines.
Originally the refugees were in places like Bataan and other areas around Manila and Luzon.
Sometime later a village was constructed near the airport in Puerto Princesa in Palawan and several thousand Vietnamese families were relocated there with the help of the Philippine government and Catholic Church.
In 1997 the village was relocated to the present location. Viet Ville, as it is known, is pretty much empty now. I was told at one point there were nearly 2000 people in the village.
A lot of the refugees have been offered political asylum in Australia and the US and have left the village. Some have returned back to Viet Nam and now there are only seven families left.
Most of the people work in the restaurant which offers some pretty good Vietnamese food. A couple of the ladies work in the gift shop and the rest work in the fields or maintain the church and temple.
Lunch at Viet Ville was good with the Vietnamese Ice Tea and fresh spring rolls and was cheap by any standard.
The owner said he originally came to the Philippines in 1979 and although it looks like a ghost town, the restaurant is pretty popular and on weekends they get a lot of business.
If you get to Puerto Princesa in Palawan take a quick trike ride out to Viet Ville and have a taste of Vietnam in the Philippines. Viet Ville is located in Barangay Sta. Lourdes and takes about 15 minutes by trike from downtown Puerto Princesa.
Sounds like my type of place although I would go just for those BBQ ribs!!
The pork BBQ was really good but I think the Vietnamese Ice tea was my favorite.
That food looks delicious!
Yeah it was really good.
Nice! So many things have changed but they still have the Viet Ville restaurant. I liked it! That was where we had our first meal after our service van picked us up from the airport on our way to El Nido. It was a long time ago when we went there, July 2006 I think… Gosh! Time flies…
The food is still good too. I really liked the iced tea
I came upon your blog randomly when I was looking up Viet Ville to see if it has change much, and wow, has it! I actually grew up there before we left years ago to the States. The 9th picture was actually our house; it’s nice to see it’s sort of still standing. Thank you for sharing ! It brought back many great memories.
Had a great time visiting there.
Very interesting to learn the history of the town. It must have been a unique experience to come to an empty place, at least at first and then to go to that restaurant! Thanks for sharing!
I know I’m a little late getting to this post but I just had to read about the Vietnamese Ghost Town you speak of. I was in PP for a couple of days and had no idea about this. Sounds like you really had a cool experience meeting with people who lived there and learning about their history. We always think of the Vietnamese who fled to the U.S. but never to other places. At least that’s how I look at it.
Anyway, looks like you had a nice time and some awesome food that I miss so dearly. Thank you for sharing this very interesting place we all should visit.
Yeah it was a great trip, there is a lot to see around there but most don’t ever visit the village or the WW2 Museum and very few go to the prison.Thanks for stopping by.
Very cool Bob! Sounds like an adventure!
It was pretty nice. I got to visit with and talk to a couple of the residents there.
Thanks for your sharing. I google Viet village and find out your blog. I missed this village in June and going to go back Palawan for next time.
It’s been awhile since I have been there but it was a great experience.