I have posted a gallery on our tour to the Perfume Pagoda outside of Hanoi, Vietnam.
Getting there is half the fun, 2h of bus from hell, followed by an hour in a boat with a very small Vietnamese woman rowing a large iron rowboat (forward not backwards like we do in the west).
The scenery was lovely and helped while away the time. Note the large striped snake that swam accross the water in front of us, much to Sharon’s delight. I didn’t realize how big it was until we got home. I also checked on the web and it seems that banded snakes of this ilk could be quite dangerous.
There is the obligatory ticket checker, this time it was a little hut on the river and there were people checking passes sitting in a boat to make sure that the government was collecting all the revenue possible from us tourists.
Once they row you to the pagoda, it’s a 45min climb up to the actual pagoda or you can take the Austrian ski-lift for a mere $5 USD per person. Since the whole tour cost about $6 USD, this was a bit of a shock but well worth the money. It was hot and sticky to say the least.
The actual pagoda itself is set at the back of a cave and it’s called the perfume pagoda because all the incense smoke gives it a unique smell. Apparently the temple has been attended since about the 1300s.
Since it’s dark and you are not allowed flash photography, there is not that much to photograph.
Then it was back the way we came, stopping along the way at some other small temples and managing to hit rush hour traffic perfectly.
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