On Friday, James and I miraculously had the same day off, a rare occurrence with our part time teaching jobs. To take advantage of the day, we traveled on a group tour to the Perfume Pagoda. After driving two hours out of Hanoi, I realized I had absolutely no idea what to expect and James and I were at a loss for words. In front of us were incredible mountainous rock structures. They filled the vast farmland creating a one of a kind backdrop. I’m not even sure if I can call them mountains but they popped up everywhere and they were stunning. After the drive, we arrived at Yen wharf to take an hour long boat trip to the Pagoda. We traveled in small fishing boats paddled by tiny but extremely powerful women. Though we got a bit soaked during the ride, the scenery was so amazing that it didn’t really matter.
Contrasting the natural rock formations were sporadic billboards and street signs that had been swallowed up by the river. Water rose at least two feet above the base of lamp posts, advertisements, and tree trunks. It was partially erie, partially hilarious. It made us wonder if this area was only a river during rainy season, which would be pretty nuts considering it was a HUGE, full on river when we went. I can’t imagine it completely running dry and watching cars drive around.
When we arrived, we hiked up a paved path for a short while before reaching the first temple. We had some time to explore and then had a classic Vietnamese lunch of fried fish, a beef dish, tofu in tomato sauce, an omelet, steamed cabbage, and dragon fruit. After getting to know our fellow tour mates a bit more, we headed to the gondola where we were greeted with another incredible view. Even the view from the bathroom before we went up the mountain was breathtaking. Getting into a gondola car made me feel like I was back in Aspen, even though it was 90 degrees and rainy, but it made me giddy nonetheless. On the way up we passed villages tucked away into the endless mountain tops. It was hard not to imagine what a different life it must be to live so far away from modern civilization. When we reached the top, our tour guide gave us a very long winded speech about the Pagoda (something he tended to do a lot) but honestly I got distracted trying to take a picture of a butterfly.
The next part of the journey was just as shocking and awe-inspiring as when we first arrived to the boats. We headed down some intimidatingly long stairs and I think I audibly gasped. In front of us was a massive cave opening, covered in incredible stalactites. You could hear the bats chirping and the rain dripping as it cascaded to the cave floor. Inside the cave were even more magnificent structures. Among these were more large and intertwined stalagmites and stalactites, representing a boy and a girl where people can go to pray for the sex of their child. Deeper still was the actual Pagoda, filled with Buddha statues and offerings. I could have easily spent another hour there just taking pictures of everything, but we unfortunately had to rush to catch the gondola back down the mountain.
Besides our cranky and kind of rude tour guide, it was a pretty great little trip. Kind of shocking that it was only two hours outside of this loud, noisy, busy city. I was beyond ready for a break from the motorbike traffic and overcrowded streets so I’m glad we found the time to do it. Hopefully we’ll be able to plan more of these trips in the future!
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