The woman was paying her respects with her hands raised above her head holding long incense sticks

Woman praying with long incense sticks in her hands

Deep within Quan Am Temple, in Ho Chi Minh City’s Cholon district, a woman stood motionless before one of the temple’s altars — surrounded by richly carved pillars and vivid ornamental details.

With both hands raised high, she held a bundle of incense sticks, offering her prayer with solemn grace. The hall was wrapped in stillness. Thin trails of smoke rose slowly into the air, and the faint scent of incense drifted gently through the space.

The incense she held was far longer than what one might see in a Japanese temple — perhaps thirty centimeters or more. That length seemed to stretch the moment itself, giving her prayer an extended breath, and adding a lingering depth to the air as the smoke carved faint, slow-moving paths through the space.

One altar, one gesture, one moment. And yet, within it all, there was something subtly different — a texture of culture unfamiliar but palpable. It was not something easily explained in words, but something one could unmistakably feel.

Quan Am Temple on Google Map

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