Yesterday we decided to get out of the city for the day and booked a trip to the Perfume Pagoda. It's around 2 hours out of town, and a complex of Buddhist temples and shrines built into the limestone Huong Tich mountains. Legend claims that the site was discovered over 2000 years ago by a monk meditating in the area, who named the site after a Tibetan mountain where Lord Buddha practiced. It's the site of a religious festival every year drawing large numbers.
I had the idea to turn on the air conditioner to dull out the street noise and what a great idea! I slept really well except for the call on my cell at 2 am (grumble). I went out onto the balcony as I do every morning to watch the goings on below, and noticed it is incredibly humid. There was funny music playing really loudly which sounded like kid's music and made me laugh.
We had another great breakfast then packed up our laundry for the hotel to do it. We went downstairs to meet our tour guide to take us to the Perfume Pagoda. My friend suggested it, and it sounded like fun and a great day out of the city to give us a break from the craziness here. Le was our guide, an adorable young guy. He was a little hard to understand, but very friendly and enthusiastic. We headed out in a private car for the two hour drive and passed another 'kid sandwich' on a moped. Not only have we seen babies balanced on the handlebars, but two people riding with a baby sandwiched between them!
We passed through many small towns that were as poor as we've seen. One had incredibly gutted roads and it was tough passing. We passed a crowded town and were told it was a wedding party. We then passed a toll, or what turned to be one though we might have never known. It was a bunch of guys sitting at a table, and there was a wooden upside-down u shaped structure over the road with vietnamese words written on it. One guy got up slowly and made his way to the car for the fare and off we went.
We stopped and were greeted with welcome tea, which we shared, and pointed to the bathrooms. I had another 'I wish I were a guy in this moment' moment, when I discovered the bathroom was a hole in the floor. They did have foot pedals, which is a nice touch, but... yeah. Not even the benefit of pointing downhill for this so it's not so easy when wearing shorts. I did manage and off we went to the river where we were greeted by a woman boater.
It was a beautiful ride by the river, and we stopped at a large pagoda to look around and take pictures. There were a lot of gorgeous bright pink water lillies on lily pads, and the woman picked two and gave them to me. We proceeded past some small pagodas as well. The ride took maybe 30-40 minutes then we arrived.
The 'town' of sorts was a bunch of metal stalls set up with women selling souvieners, food and plastic toys. They were a bit assertive in trying to sell things, but we quickly moved past. It reminded me a bit of Aguas Caliente at the base of Machu Pichu in Peru. We took a tram ride up which was beautiful but a little nerve-wracking. The mountains are lush with vegetation and really beautiful, though even here everything is covered in a haze of smog and fog. We walked up some steps then down several very long staircases made of cut rock until we entered the Perfume Pagoda, which is actually a large cave. There were many shrines with incense, offerings of rice, fruit and other items. At the large one at the end of the cave there were many people chanting and praying.
We climbed back out and went back down in the tram. I think my heart was left at the first dip, but I recovered quickly enough. We then stopped for lunch. Le ordered a bunch of dishes, six actually, and we dug in. It included some fried spring rolls, greens, chicken, fried fish, beef and onions and scallions, and fried tofu, along with some plantains for dessert. We gave some beef to the local dogs, though I scared one who was sleeping and got snapped at (I wasn't all that close, thankfully). The poor thing's eyes were pretty awful so that may have been some of the issue. She gobbled it right up.
The boat ride back was beautiful as well and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The ride back was fine, though we missed a turn on the highway and actually backed up a good distance on the exit to get back on the highway (we saw that quite a few times!) We also had to cross lanes of a busy street with two lanes each way and that was a bit harrowing. I think I had forgotten how crazy Hanoi was in the leisurely day we had, as I was a bit overloaded by all the mopeds all over the place! Nonetheless, we did make it back to the hotel to find clean laundry. Yay! They earned high marks as my bag had several bills in it that I must have left in my pockets.
We decided to go to dinner at Hoa Sua, a lovely restaurant which is a school for disadvantaged youth for hospitality, tourism and restaurant. The school has 500 students annually from all over Vietnam, and a portion of the cost of meals goes to fund scholarships. Students learn everything from cooking and waiting, to managing a restaurant.
We decided on a cyclo (the bicycle 'cab') and off we went. It was a young guy and he moved very quickly. He charged us a large amount (over three times what we paid the last) and while it was a longer distance, it seemed excessive. Then he asked what time we would be done, so we figure we paid the fare in advance. Too bad as the meal took much longer than anticipated so he sure made out!
Where he dropped us was not quite it, and we wandered down the narrow street looking. A really nice local woman asked if we were looking for hoa Sua and pointed us in the right direction, which was around the corner. The place is absolutely charming, in a large old colonial home with a huge courtyard marked by a long white staircase. There was a dark terra cotta tile on the ground, and some beautifully decorated tables. We decided to sit outside and two vietnamese teens came right over to help us. They were absolutely adorable.
We settled on fresh spring rolls, duck a'la orange and beef medallions with bernaise sauce, along with a bottle of light red wine. The spring rolls were excellent: vegetarian with finely ground peanuts which made for a nice twist. The beef was so-so, and the duck was really great. They were fairly attentive though there was a large table (20 or so people) that sat shortly after us, so we lost them for a while. They started with fresh bread and overall the meal was great. I ended with a mango smoothie for dessert which was good as well. And for $60 US (including a 30% tip) it was a great deal. High for this area, but hey, it went to a good place so we felt really great about it.
We left and walked down the road with the intention of walking, but then realized we headed off in the wrong direction. We saw a family of four on a moped with a 2ish year old squished between mom and dad, and a baby resting on the front of the bike. Amazing. Oh, and we saw a person riding with a 6 foot high ladder on the way to dinner, which was impressive. My friend joked that the only thing we haven't seen, and would be incredibly impressed by, is seeing a rhino on the back of a moped. I think a car would be equally impressive, and not really out of the realm of possibility given what we've seen!
Given the crowds (it IS a Saturday night, after all) we decided to just hail a cab, and found one quickly.) The fare with tip was only around $2 US, so not a bad deal. The streets were more crowded than we'd seen them, and it was completely overwhelming! The volume of people and mopeds on the narrow streets had probably increased 50%, so it was simply amazing. We decided to just call it a night and start really early tomorrow.
Tomorrow's our last day in Hanoi, and we head to Siem Reap in Cambodia at 5 pm. We'll be checking out early and hitting a few of the sites that we haven't yet seen including St. Patrick's church (which we saw at night but want to tour during the day), a Hanoi house tour, and the Hoa Lo prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton. That will probably take up the time we have but we'll see! Unsure if I'll be able to post tomorrow, but will do my best to by the day after to keep you all part of this adventure in Asia. What a trip!
S
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