Perfume Pagoda

Today we got up early and headed for Chua Huong, the Perfume Pagoda (or the Bafoon Pagoda as the guide said it). It was a 2 hour bus ride southwest of Hanoi through farmland, then we boarded tiny metal boats, each carrying 4 passengers and one rower. All of the rowers were women. We sat on tiny wooden benches about 1 foot off of the boat floor, and were careful how we balanced our weight as we didn't feel like going for a swim. It was an hour long paddle down the Perfume River, a gorgeous cruise where we were surrounded by rural scenes of farming and fishing. The mountains, rice fields and banana trees surround the river, making it very picturesque.

We reached the base of Huong Tich Mountain and hiked 2 km up to the pagoda. It wasn't the prettiest hike, as the trail was covered with trash, and people lived right along the path, constantly bombarding us with offers of cheap souvenirs. The pagoda is actually just a few Buddhist altars inside the mouth of a shallow limestone cave. The "Perfume" comes from a kind of tree that grows in the area, which gives off a sweet scent when it blooms. The pagoda and hike up were not very exciting, but what made it interesting is the importance of the pagoda itself. Every year, thousands Vietnamese Buddhists come to the Perfume Pagoda during the Tet Festival, the Vietnamese New Year. It is perhaps the most important pagoda in all of Vietnam. They come to report on happenings from the last year, and to pray for a good year to come. Tet Nguyen Dan (Festival of the First Day) is the most important time of the year for the Vietnamese. Families get together in the hope of good fortune for the coming year and ancestral spirits are welcomed back home. Since the festival is coming up, we can feel a sense of excitement among the Vietnamese. They are getting ready for the spring, cleaning graves, paying off debts, cooking food, and buying kumquat trees thought to ward of evil spirits.

We arrived back in Hanoi just after 6:00 pm and headed to a popular Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. Again, we were a bit disappointed by our meal. So far, the local food we have eaten has been rather bland and tasteless, which is a bit disappointing. But we made up for it by stopping at the Funky Monkey for a few happy hour cocktails to end the evening.