Note: For most of the blog entries, there are many more pictures in the albums on the right. (Usually the one titled Vietnam 2008.) In this case, there are several especially nice pix of the trip to this temple.Today I visited Giac Lam Pagoda, which is in a more remote district than most sites I've been to in HCMC proper. (20 minutes by taxi from District 1.) I saved it for near the end of my trip when I'm getting overly familiar with everything in walking distance of our hotel. It's one of the larger temple complexes I've seen and there was no sign of any other western tourist. It's definitely worth the trip if you have a morning and about $4.50 in cab fare each way to spare.
The guidebook describes it as the oldest temple in the city. I assume it's the institution that is the oldest and not the building itself, which is a modern structure. In fact, they are in the process of constructing a new temple adjacent to the current one. Of course, there's a collection box for that and for ongoing operations and their charitable programs, and I always take along all the small bills I've collected to contribute.
This morning when I visited, there was some kind of ceremony going on involving a nun--an initiation, perhaps. (One of the drawbacks of making my own way on these visits is I don't learn much that isn't plainly visible, so most of the time I'm just guessing at what's going on around me.) It was shortly before lunch time, and a couple of the long tables in the dining hall were set, and a lot of monks were hovering around checking in on the ceremony and waiting for it to conclude.
One thing I got a kick out of was discovering the source of the music that accompanied the chants. It was all coming over a loud sound system. I assumed the melody line, in the five-tone scale recognizable from most traditional music in the east, was coming from some kind of old-time zither or lute. When I came around the corner of the Buddha alter in the main hall, I saw that the sound was coming from an old purple Fender Stratocaster, played by a monk sitting cross legged on the floor. He was shredding the bottom two strings, and the drummer was going at it pretty hard too. Everyone once in awhile the drummer laid down his sticks and picked up a zither, and he had a way of playing a loud wooden knocker with his tapping foot while his hands were busy.
The building behind the main temple is a mausoleum with hundreds of small cubicles for the ashes of the deceased. Two funerals were going on in separate corners when I stepped in, with a few family members gathered around a chanting monk while they loaded up one of the cubicles. Each one typically included an urn with a photo of the deceased and the kit they'll need in the next world--paper money, joss sticks, tea cups. Many of them had personal mementos, too. Near the back of the building, the photos were from decades ago and near the front, they got more and more contemporary. One that caught my eye had a remote control race car with a Power Rangers doll riding in it, and a little plastic replica of a desktop computer--favorite past times I assumed of the little boy whose picture was on the urn.
-Robert
