...and one more makes four!: Pagoda Pilgrimage

Guest blog by Audrey [editorial comments by Lisa in brackets]

We decided that it would be nice to visit one of HCMC’s famous Pagodas. The Jade Emperor Pagoda was touted as being one of the city’s most uniquely ornate pagodas with the added bonus of harboring a turtle sanctuary; turtles being the symbols of good luck and fortune. We packed our trusty tour book [Ok, “trusty” might be pushing it – the same book led us to 2 different restaurants that are no longer in existence] and consulted the receptionist at the hotel’s front desk for directions. This is where our little pilgrimage begins to sound like a Robert Munsch story….

The receptionist looked at the map and shook her head, “ No, no, no, no, no - this map is wrong, the street you want is right here,” and she drew another street on our map. We asked if we could walk there and she said yes. “OK,” we said, “let’s walk there, it seems pretty close.” [of course the same woman told us to take a cab to the electricity store that was a few yards away, which might have been a clue for us…]
We walked for a bit, past way too many motorcycles and mopeds that had way too much on them and we came to a huge roundabout. "How do we get across here?" we wondered. “Let’s follow that old lady, she looks like she knows what she’s doing” said Doug. He grabbed Norah, Lisa carried Luke, and Audrey carried the tour book [wouldn’t want to lose that gem!] and off we went following the old lady [and we’re not exactly spring chickens ourselves, so when we say old, we mean she was old] across 56 lanes of traffic, safely to the other side. We decided right was the way to go.
We passed an old man making kissy noises at the children. “Pagoda?” we said pointing to the picture in the tour book. He just shook his head and made more kissy sounds at the children [Audrey's being modest - of course the kissy sounds were for her]… we smiled and kept walking.
We came to a man selling rear view mirrors; “Pagoda?” we said, pointing to the picture in the tour book… he just shook his head and showed us the rear view mirrors… we smiled and kept walking.
We passed some chickens on a garbage bin… we didn’t bother asking them; chickens don’t know anything anyway. So, we walked through the garbage and kept going.
We came to a man picking at his toes sitting on his moped, “Pagoda?” we said, pointing to the picture in the tour book… he said, “No, no, no, no, no blabbety blah.” We smiled, nodded and turned around.
We came to a man sitting on a moped and asked, “Pagoda?” He said, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes” [or at least that’s what he would say if he spoke English] and pointed in the direction we had just come from.
At this point we also met a small, white, scruffy, short-legged dog that decided he’d come along on the adventure with us. We turned back around in the direction we had just come from.
We startled a girl selling fruit; “Pagoda?” we said, pointing to the picture in the tour book. She smiled and pointed to where we were headed. We kept walking…
We walked back past the man picking his toes, past the chickens on the garbage bin, through the garbage [at which point the dog started eating a dead bird], past the man selling rear view mirrors, and past the kissy man and kept walking.
Finally we came to the place where we had originally crossed the street and just past that was the street with the pagoda… apparently right had been very wrong. At this point the dog left us and walked out into the traffic, confidently navigating the cars, mopeds, and motorcycles.
We finally made it to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. There were indeed turtles, and ornate décor, statues and incense. [Unfortunately, this was a case where the cliché about the journey being more important than the destination was really true.] We walked around a bit, then left. [There really wasn’t much to do or see and Audrey commented later that she felt jaded by the Jade Pagoda.] We hailed the first cab we saw [Oh yes, we’ve learned from George W. – fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, well, let’s just say we’re not going to make that mistake again] showed the driver the hotel card “Somerset?” we said, he smiled and nodded. We sat back and enjoyed the cab ride back to our hotel.

Traffic circle we crossed - looks way less daunting in the picture!