YEN TU

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On the way back from Cat Ba island to Hanoi last October we stopped off to see the famous pilgrimage site at Yen Tu (by the way, for Westerners, it is'nt pronounced Yen 'Too' because it has a squiggly tone marker over the 'u' which makes it almost impossible for me to say properly!). This is a holy mountain at 3,477 ft (1,060 m). It is named after a monk Yen Ky who lived about 2,000 years ago. We were told that Emperor tran Nhan Tong (1278-93) retired there to become a monk. Nowadays you can go part of the way up the mountain by a very modern cable car but it still involves some quite strenuous walking. If I'd had time i would like to have tried walking all the way but it would be hard work. It was very beautiful, but unfortunately there was too much cloud to see the famous view of Halong bay which is one of the reasons for doing this trip. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. Here are some photos taken on the walk to and from the top of the mountain.

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