SAIGON Walking Tour of District 5 (SELF GUIDED Walking Tour)

Описание: We then sat on our balcony, watching scooters go by and sharing snacks.
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.....

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