Hanoi and Our Trip to the Pagoda

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After a few days in Hanoi, we're about to travel down the coast to the Hoi An area. Unfortunately, the last couple of days were marred by rain - a constant, light rain that soaked everything and made our clothes smell like mildew.

The streets of Hanoi are jam packed with scooters. With no breaks in traffic pedestrians crossing the street must just wade in - the bikes miraculously find their way around everyone. It took us all a couple of hours to get used to it.

Yesterday, we visited the Perfume Pagoda. Before this trip, I didn’t know what “pagoda” means, but now I know I means “big cave on top of a mountain”. After a one hour row boat ride, we hiked for about 1.5 hours up slippery rocks to reach the pagoda. The scenery near the top was quite striking - steep hillsides enshrouded in mist and clouds.

- Colin

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