In between visiting the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum (also closed for lunch) I took a stroll to try and find the Jade Emperor Pagoda, which was a bit further afield but in the same sort of area, all the time being amazed at this city, the friendliness of the people, the noise and smells. The pagoda was heralded by the guidebook as being a "hidden piece of peace and tranquillity in the hubbub of the city and supposedly filled with phantasmal divinities and grotesque heroes", but it was not at all as I expected, having been to a number of Chinese temples in Malaysia.Instead of being filled with phantasmal divinities, it was filled with smoke and a load of begging children and old women, all shouting Vietnamese at everyone, pestering you to give them money or buy lottery tickets. It was certainly not the place to sit and contemplate anything and I left pretty much as soon as I got there and headed back towards the War Remnants Museum, which would now be open.
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