Perfume Pagoda

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We decided to escape the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, especially all the 2.5 million motorcycles (seriously, there are actually 2.5 million motorbikes here!) and we went on an organised day trip to the Perfume Pagoda. This is a complex of pagodas and buddhist shrines built into the limestone cliffs near Hanoi, which dates back to the 15th century.

We were thrown round in a minivan for 2 hours until we arrived near to the Perfume Pagoda, we had to hop into small, old rowboats and 4 of us were rowed for an hour by a girl who looked like she was about 14 years old up a river to the base of the mountain where the Perfume Pagoda is. It was a 4km hike uphill to the top, Jared decided he was feeling energetic and walked up, while I decided to pay $3 and get a cable car to the top. Wasn't all that impressed by the Pagoda itself and was quite pleased that I had not actually walked up the mountain! After being there for about 20mins we climbed back down and were fed lunch. We had a nosy round another temple at the base of the mountain which was a lot more impressive.

After this we again had an hour on the rowboat, with the 14 year old girl doing all the work, back to the minivan and 2 hours back to Hanoi. You start to realise how different Vietnam is to the lifestyle we are used to when you are driving through the countryside and you see farmers working in the fields with oxen pulling along a plough!!

The whole 2 hours in the van on the way home I was craving just a burger and chips or a pizza, so we decided to give in and have our first western meal of our trip. All in all a good day out.

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