Perfume Pagoda

The wi-fi internet in my hotel is finally up!

Yesterday morning, after my last post, I walked outside to find myself some breakfast. I knew the bakery I went to the morning before was not open yet, so I decided to have some pho for breakfast like the locals do. I don't think I could really do pho for dinner and then breakfast again - it just doesn't seem to work, but I had to try it.

The bus headed for the Perfume Pagoda arrived around 8:20am toting 4 girls from Quebec, a guy from Germany, a man from Austria, a couple and a woman from Ho Chi Minh City, and a father and son from the U.S. Our tour guide was an enthusiastic guy around my age. The bus ride to the Perfume Pagoda took about an hour and a half then from there we took "Sampans", or canoe-like boats, to the base of the mountain to the pagoda, or Buddhist temple. The boat ride took another hour or so. I was lucky to ride in the sampan with the couple and woman from Ho Chi Minh City because they were able to tell me about the area that we were travelling through. The husband in the couple knew the most English, so he was explaining to me that there are some people that live in the mountains along the river and that the woman who was rowing our boat lived also nearby and she has to take her children by boat to get to school. He was concerned for her because if there was an emergency there would be no quick way to receive assistance.
Eventually we made our way to the base of the mountain. Our tour included lunch, so we stopped at a restaurant and ate family style with tofu sauteed in tomatoes, beef with scallions, fried omelette, spring rolls, and some sort of green cooked with garlic. Yum!
Along the way I became re-acquainted with the "hole in the floor" toilet. I was an old pro at this! Oh how I missed squatting down to pee trying to make sure that I don't end up urinating all over my feet. Lovely.
Anyway...
Most of us took the cable car up to the top of of the mountain where the pagoda was built. We walked down some steps to go in. I don't think most of us should have entered because we weren't exactly dressed properly (ie most us were wearing shorts or tank tops), but our tour guide just sort of looked the other way and didn't say anything. He pointed out stalactites that appeared as shapes of people, and one seemed to have a face carved into it, but he swore no one has touched it. The guide pointed out two big rocks inside the mountain: one couples pray to and give offerings in order to give birth to a son, and the other for a daughter. Further inside were 3 statues of the Buddha, one representing the past, another the present and another the future. Many people came to this spot before us and left offerings of fruit, cookies and other goodies for the Buddha to enjoy. Our tour guide was trying to explain the shape of one of the rocks as "bulbous", but when he kept saying it the word sounded like "pulpus". He had to spell it on his cell phone and show it to me so I could explain what he meant and how to say it. This went on a few times with different words. Later, on the hike down the mountain, he kept asking me and the other American guy in the group how to pronounce certain words in English. The American guy was getting a little frustrated, but I was very patient because I know that the guide needed to know these words in order to do his job effectively.
On the way down we spotted a monkey chained to a table sitting across from a vendor. The others in my group stopped, took pictures, and oohed and ahhed over the monkey. The Austrian man even gave the monkey the rest of his beer. I thought the whole scene was absolutely atrocious! The monkey was obviously struggling to get loose from the chain, and here were these people thinking it was cute. I continued walking because I just couldn't bear to see it tied up like that.

After we made it down the mountain we hopped on the sampans again, sailed back to the village, returned on the bus and went back to Hanoi. We were all very sweaty and exhausted to say the least.

For some more photos of the Perfume Pagoda trip and of Hoan Kiem Lake go here:
Hoan Kiem/Perfume Pagoda Pictures