The Jade Emperor Pagoda, Saigon's most atmospheric temple

The Jade Emperor Pagoda is the temple in Ho Chi Minh City that looks the way people imagine a temple should. The halls are dark, the air is thick with incense, and carved figures crowd every wall. It takes half an hour and costs nothing.

What is the Jade Emperor Pagoda?

The Jade Emperor Pagoda is a temple built in 1909 by Saigon's Cantonese community, officially named Phuoc Hai Tu. Its main altar honours the Jade Emperor, ruler of heaven in Chinese folk religion. Buddhist and Taoist figures share the halls around him, which is common in temples of this kind.

The building is not a pagoda in the strict Buddhist sense, and nobody in the neighbourhood minds the name. The mix of traditions is part of what makes it worth seeing, because it shows how religion is practised rather than how it is classified.

What is inside the temple?

Inside the temple, three rooms reward a slow look. The main hall has the Jade Emperor in the centre, flanked by his guardians and the gods of the four directions, all carved in wood and painted in dark reds and golds.

To one side is the hall of Kim Hoa, the goddess of fertility, surrounded by twelve figures of women, each holding a child. Women come here to pray for pregnancy, and the room is often the busiest in the building.

The third is the Hall of the Ten Hells, where carved wooden panels show the punishments waiting for each kind of wrongdoing in the afterlife. The detail is vivid and a little grim, and it is the room people describe afterwards.

Why are there turtles in the pond?

The pond in the forecourt holds dozens of turtles, released by worshippers as an act of merit. Turtles stand for long life in Chinese and Vietnamese belief, and setting one free is a common offering. Some of the older ones carry inscriptions on their shells.

Visitors lean over the rail to photograph them, and they are used to it. Please do not feed them or tap on the shells.

How should you behave inside?

Behave inside as you would in any place of worship. Cover shoulders and knees, keep voices low, and move slowly past the altars, because the halls are small and people are praying in them. Ask before photographing anyone at prayer, and do not step over offerings on the floor.

Incense is sold at the door for those who want to light it. There is no obligation.

Photography is allowed in the courtyard and in most of the halls, without flash. Keep the camera down at the altar of Kim Hoa, where women make private requests, and give the incense burner in the forecourt a wide berth, since it is hot enough to burn. The etiquette guide and the pagodas guide cover what the altars and offerings mean.

When is the temple busiest?

The temple is busiest on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month and in the weeks around Tet, when worshippers queue at the altars and the smoke from incense fills the courtyard. Those days are the most atmospheric and the hardest to move around in.

On an ordinary weekday morning the halls are quieter, and a visit takes twenty to thirty minutes. The temple keeps daytime hours and closes in the early evening.

US President Barack Obama visited in May 2016, and the temple has been on far more tour itineraries since. The groups come mostly in the middle of the morning, so the first hour after opening and the late afternoon stay calm.

How do you fit the pagoda into a day in Saigon?

The pagoda sits at 73 Mai Thi Luu street in Da Kao ward, on the northern edge of District 1, about two kilometres from Ben Thanh market. A Grab takes ten minutes from the centre and costs very little.

Pair it with the War Remnants Museum or the pink Tan Dinh church, both a short ride away. The Ho Chi Minh City things to do page puts the rest of the city's temples and museums in order, and the Chinese temples of Cholon are the next step for anyone who wants more.