We visited the Pagoda on the river cruise.   If you look at the picture in the upper right the structure you see is not the Pagoda.   The structure is nothing but an enclosure for a staircase to the top of the hill where the actual Pagoda is.

At each level the stairs get a little steeper and narrower. There is an outside walkway to get back down if you want.

The Pagoda sits on a small island connected to the city by a long walk way.  Before the dam there were buildings all around the Pagoda and they were taken down before the area was flooded for the dam.