Thien Hau Temple

Thien Hau Temple (Miếu Bà Thiên Hậu), or rather officially known as the Ba Thien Hau Pagoda (Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu, "Pagoda of the Lady Thien Hau"), is a Chinese styled temple which housed the sea goddess Mazu. This gem is situated in District 5's Cholon, or rather the Chinatown of Saigon.

Thinking that there might be a lot of deities or maybe the place would be huge, I simply just proceed to light up all the joss sticks and move on inside.

The temple is amazing, really. 

I love how ancient it is, and how symmetrical it was structured.

The magnificent temple gates that come with the detailed engraving of the different stories from Buddhism.

How the guardians stood firming at the sides with the flickering oil lamps where you light up the joss sticks.

After which you would proceed onwards with the magnificent view of the huge Buddhist halls.

You can also make a donation to hang a huge incense on the top pillars of the temple.

Nobody bought the gigantic candles anyway, so I'm the only guy who's lighting up the big candles in the middle of the altar.

Somehow it actually felt like how everyone else (mostly locals) would know I'm the foreigner.

I went to explore the rest of the places, walking to different altars, praying for the world, for the people.

After Thailand, I realized that I have found more peace when I pray for the world instead of just me and the people around me.

And I felt happier when I asked for the world to be better, instead of wealth.

I reached the last altar and found myself with a little less than half joss sticks left.

That's when I realized I was "forced" to overbuy the joss sticks.

I walked around and survey the area again, wondering what to do with the joss sticks.

(I can't give it to someone else since I have already light it up)

I ended up doing another round of praying and redistribute the remaining joss sticks to all the altars again.

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Details

Name: Ba Thien Hau Temple

Opening Hours: 08:00 – 16:30 

Address: 710 Nguyễn Trãi, Phường 11, Quận 5, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam.

*Joss Sticks Required: 15 or less (depending if you're offering 1, 3 or 5)