We were picked up from our hotel at around 8 am by our tour bus, and after a tour around Hanoi to pick up our fellow day-trippers, we headed off to Perfume Pagoda. Our tour group was relatively small, just 12 people, and we had a great time hearing where people had already been in Vietnam or were still planning on going. Our guide was also really rad, super friendly and organised. The Vietnamese name their children after qualities they wish them to posses. The name of our guide on this day translated to Mr Hero. In Halong Bay we had Mr Millionaire.
Perfume Pagoda is about 70 km south of Hanoi, or about an hour and a half drive. Its not that people choose to drive slowly here, its just that with the traffic and pot holes and trucks, you don't really seem to travel anywhere too fast in Vietnam. On the way we stopped at a marble / textile / snack shop. There were quite a few tourist buses stopping here, and this was an obvious tourist trap, but at no point did we feel pressured to buy anything, and it was a good chance to stock up on water and snacks for the rest of the day.
Perfume Pagoda is a complex of around 30 Buddhist shrines, of which we would be visiting two. On this trip to Perfume Pagoda, the final two kilometers are by boat along the Suoi Yen River. The little boats that take tourists up the river are mainly the non-motorised type, and mostly the paddling is done by local women. Apparently there is not enough demand for year-round trips to Perfume Pagoda, and so the men generally head to the cities to find work, whilst the women stay behind to look after the house, the kids, and earn a bit of extra money by taking tourists up the river.
The first temple that we visited was Thien Tru Pagoda or the Heavenly Kitchen Pagoda. As you can see from the photos below, there were not too many other visitors. Apparently it can be a completely different story if you are visiting during the first three months of the Vietnamese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar and normally starts in either January of February. During the first three months of the Vietnamese New Year, Buddhist pilgrims will travel to Perfume Pagoda to pray for happiness and prosperity for the year ahead. Apparently on some days the number of people travelling to Perfume Pagoda can be in the thousands. I'm glad we were there during the quiet part of the year!
After having visited Thien Tru Pagoda, we then headed by cable car up to Huong Tich Cave to visit Chua Trong or the Inner Temple.
Then at the end of the day it was back on the boat, and then back on the tour bus for the drive back to Hanoi.
Next time: Halong Bay
Perfume Pagoda is about 70 km south of Hanoi, or about an hour and a half drive. Its not that people choose to drive slowly here, its just that with the traffic and pot holes and trucks, you don't really seem to travel anywhere too fast in Vietnam. On the way we stopped at a marble / textile / snack shop. There were quite a few tourist buses stopping here, and this was an obvious tourist trap, but at no point did we feel pressured to buy anything, and it was a good chance to stock up on water and snacks for the rest of the day.
Perfume Pagoda is a complex of around 30 Buddhist shrines, of which we would be visiting two. On this trip to Perfume Pagoda, the final two kilometers are by boat along the Suoi Yen River. The little boats that take tourists up the river are mainly the non-motorised type, and mostly the paddling is done by local women. Apparently there is not enough demand for year-round trips to Perfume Pagoda, and so the men generally head to the cities to find work, whilst the women stay behind to look after the house, the kids, and earn a bit of extra money by taking tourists up the river.
The first temple that we visited was Thien Tru Pagoda or the Heavenly Kitchen Pagoda. As you can see from the photos below, there were not too many other visitors. Apparently it can be a completely different story if you are visiting during the first three months of the Vietnamese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar and normally starts in either January of February. During the first three months of the Vietnamese New Year, Buddhist pilgrims will travel to Perfume Pagoda to pray for happiness and prosperity for the year ahead. Apparently on some days the number of people travelling to Perfume Pagoda can be in the thousands. I'm glad we were there during the quiet part of the year!
After having visited Thien Tru Pagoda, we then headed by cable car up to Huong Tich Cave to visit Chua Trong or the Inner Temple.
Then at the end of the day it was back on the boat, and then back on the tour bus for the drive back to Hanoi.
Next time: Halong Bay
No comments:
Post a Comment