Here they call most Buddhist and Hindu temples pagodas. They tend to have much more of a Chinese architectural influence than an Indian one. The local Vietnamese face of the Buddha is often called the king of the sea or the queen of the sea, and represented with symbols of water. There are tigers and foo dogs, ceramic pressed and painted murals, large Buddha figures, and candles and burning oil pots. There are also large could of burning incense hanging from the ceiling. Petitioners buy the incense, for specific prayers, and it burns for up to a week. We saw two pagodas in Saigon, one very old, and one huge and rich and relatively new (built by the Chinese in the 1950s).
The old pagoda:
The new pagoda, huge, but completely surrounded by apartment buildings, making it kind of hidden and secret:
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