Giac Lam Pagoda

Considered one of the oldest temples in the southern metropolis, this pagoda dates to the eighteenth century and preserves a strong sense of traditional Vietnamese Buddhist architecture. Its halls are filled with gilded statues, dark carved-wood columns hung with red lacquered plaques, and rows of ancestral tablets, while a tall multi-tiered stupa rises in the grounds. A sacred bodhi tree, said to have been brought from Sri Lanka, stands near the entrance, and the incense-scented compound stays quiet away from the centre.