A British woman has discovered a ‘weird’ Covid-19 theme park whilst travelling in Vietnam — including a bizarre timeline clock and imprisoned pathogen sculptures
A British tourist encountered a ‘weird’ Covid-19 theme park in Vietnam, featuring a unique timeline clock and imprisoned pathogen sculptures.
Ella Ribak, 29, stumbled upon the peculiar attractions of the Tuyen Lam Lake National Tourist Complex in Da Lat during her travels across south-east Asia in May 2022.
She came across various themed areas, one being dubbed ‘Covid 19 Park’, where she filmed bizarre statues scattered around, such as pathogens being impaled by a vaccine syringe. The Finsbury Park-based commercial director expressed: “It was such a weird experience.
“Me and the other travellers couldn’t stop laughing and we kept looking around to see if any Vietnamese people found it funny as well, but they all seemed pretty serious.”
Ella described an oddly dystopian vibe provided by the clock at the entrance and how the sculptures were hidden among trees.
Yet the mood shifted when spotting a life-sized pathogen with comedic eyes jailed behind bars: “But then when you turned a corner and saw a human-size pathogen with googly eyes on it locked in a jail, it just becomes funny.”
The current status of the Covid area remains unknown in 2024. She concluded with: “It was really strange trying to figure out how serious the park was.”
Despite acknowledging the sensitive subject, the playful nature of the clay figures brought confusion about the park’s intention.
“Obviously it touches on a sensitive topic for some people, but the clay sculptures seemed so jokey that it’s hard to tell.”
Ultimately, she expressed an enjoyable visit even amidst uncertain reception: “Ultimately we had a great time, even if we didn’t take it as it was meant.”
There are 80 unique sculptures at the Covid-19 Park in Da Lay, and they tell the story of the fight against the Covid-19, by the Vietnamese Government and people. The park was initiated by Trinh Ba Dung, general director of the Sculpture Tunnel Tourist Site, which also tells the story of Da Lat’s history with a series of clay sculptures under a 1.2km long tunnel.
One of the sculptures — the clock — features a different measure, each hour, used during the pandemic to try and limit the spread of the illness and different measures of prevention. The ‘hours’ feature field hospitals, keeping distance, face masks and communication.
The sculptures inside the park represent different stages of the pandemic from the outbreak to prevention and then technological advances and the vaccine.
The park where the sculptures can be found, featured many different areas and was originally built in 2010, with a total length of two kilometres. The sculptures found at the park are all made entirely of clay and use natural colours. Other sculptures tell the history of Da Lat City, which is about 14km away.
