We had some onigiri in our room and a few coffees before heading out on a walking adventure to district 5. I had made a quick little walking tour in maps.me , pinning a bunch of clan houses, temples and sites in the area of Binh Tay Market. We walked all the way from central district 1 to 5 and it took about an hour, but we stopped to film a rap take in front of a crazy crossroads/ intersection.

We stopped at a cool coffee shop called “Smores Saigon Cafe”. I ordered a cold brew Hanoi coffee and Jives got a Pinky Salted Lime coffee. The building was so cool, like a turn of the century metal and glass works. Along the top of the counter there were little shadow puppets running on a track and everything was decorated in that subway tile green. It was nice to cool down with a cold beverage. 

The first stop on our walking tour of district five was “Hem 206 Tran Hung Dao” or “Old Alley”. This alley is just a local residential alleyway that looks really cool! There are blue metal railings and plants growing everywhere. Locals have their laundry hanging. This sort of thing isn’t really my scene, as I don’t want to intrude on locals living their lives, but we peaked in so briefly that I don’t think anyone noticed us being a bit nosey. 

Next we walked to “Hoi Quan Nghia An” Clan House. The approach to this temple was a long walk across a huge parking lot. Clearly this clan house gets busy! The front doors were so elaborate, depicting two warriors dressed in gold, red and green and holding huge blades with a lion on them. We walked into the temple a bit further. In the centre the urn for placing incense was wafting a huge cloud of smoke, filling the (roofless) room. The doorways were covered in huge golden characters. The second area had a golden altar in the centre and gold and red lanterns strung from the ceiling beams. We then entered the third and final room, at the very end was a series of elaborate dark and glossy wooden sculptures and presumably the main shrine. All of the archways were covered in gold carvings. There were also two large circular doors painted red with lion heads on the knockers. The pagoda was built in the 1820’s making it one of the oldest in Saigon and is dedicated to Quan Cong, a military leader in the three kingdoms period of China. 

Next we walked one block down the road to Tue Thank Guildhall. This hall is dedicated to the sea goddess, Mazu and was completed in 1760, so much older than the last clan house. Outside there were two very angular lion (or fu dog) sculptures. The temple front courtyard was small but the carvings there were incredible. Everything was inlaid with incredible tiel work depicting flowers, mountains, water and figures. In the incense room, or the first room there was a giant metal urn and chimney for burning incense in. It looked very utilitarian and not fancy like the last hall we visited. A group was taking photos (in a professional photography group) in the second chamber. The tiles on the floor in this section were incredible, in reds and muted oranges, greys and purples etc… so gorgeous. There were also giant carved urns in dark wood lining the back of this second section. The third chamber or main altar area had the large incense coils hanging from the ceiling, the ash slowly falling to the ground. These coils take weeks to burn! There were bright pink tickets hanging from the wall, which I didn’t understand, but they were aesthetically beautiful. As we exited this beautiful hall, right above the door there was a huge wooden carved relief of the sea goddess Mazu. This temple was my favourite of the day by far!

Next we walked to Duong Phu Dinh Street, or lantern alley. This whole neighbourhood specialises in selling paper lanterns, but is even more impressive in the lead up to a major celebration or holiday. The alley had quite a few lanterns up and it was still really pretty to look at. We also saw quite a few shops selling dragon dance heads. 

Next we walked to Quan Am Pagoda, the final pagoda on our walking tour. Quan Am has a beautiful garden with a fountain directly across the road from it. The pagoda itself is bright red and yellow in that traditional saddle shaped style. The main entrance was flagged with huge paper lanterns, easily three feet in diameter. The inside of the temple was just as brightly coloured, making it the brightest stop of the day thus far! The pillars were black and embossed with golden dragon carvings and reliefs. On one side of the incense room there was a relief painting of a dragon with a 3D whisker, and on the opposite side there was a tiger in vibrant yellow. The ceiling was painted in wide yellow and teal stripes. We entered the back room or the main shrine and immediately felt like it was inappropriate to take photos as there was so much hustle and bustle of the temple goers laying offerings, lighting incense, burning offerings and ringing bells. We stood there and absorbed the scene. It was lovely and all encompassing. Outside the temple there were about thirty booths set up selling incense, offerings and flowers. This shrine took the prize for overall feel, it felt like an everyday temple, it felt alive. 

We then walked to a church along a street filled with bird cages and song birds, as well as crickets and grubs to feed them. We then walked down a park-like walkway in the middle of the road (like a boulevard) and Jives filled a rap take here as a group of mechanics cheered him on and gave him the thumbs up. We briefly visited the exterior of St.Joan of Arc, but it looked rundown and almost abandoned with plants growing all the way up it. It was nice to see a Saigon church though, as Notre Dame is under scaffolding. We then walked back towards our place, stopping at a little roadside drinks shop to have a beer as the rain came down briefly. We found a restaurant to eat near to our place. I had a veggie curry and Jives had a Hawaiian pizza. We both had a big Tiger beer, and the total came to 260,000 dong. We then went back to our place to rest before heading out on a night time adventure. 

After sunset, around 6pm we walked to the pedestrian boulevard called “Nguyen Hue”. At the top of the street is City Hall, beautifully lit up at night. At the other end of the street is the Song Sai Gon River. People were out enjoying the street, skateboarding, eating and dressed up for Halloween (tomorrow) . It was a lovely atmosphere. We then walked to  a Banh Mi place and had two vegetarian Banh Mi. They had tofu patties in place of the meat and they were delicious! This was our third time trying Banh Mi, and probably the best! Afterwards we retreated to our room to sit on the balcony and have some snacks before bed while watching the crazy Saigon scooter traffic!