Today we visited the Perfume Pagoda on the Perfume river. It gets its name from an area in Nepal with the same name and also because of the flowers that grow on its shores. We got a tour to a small town on the river where we got rowed down the river to where there are temples built on and in the mountains. The mountains and river here are stunning. The moutains have a very strange shape, very jagged looking and its a very magical looking place, especially floating down stream with lots of other people in boats too, its like crossing the river stix or some sort of scene like that (except we arent crossing of course). Down the river where the temples are there is a docking area with some restaurants and stalls. You can buy lots of food and drink and also lots of trinkets and things to give as gifts to the Buddhas. There arent many bins. First we go and see the temple that is beside the river. Most temples in the North follow the Chinese design and this is no different. Very beautiful buildings and lots of Buddha statues inside. After we view the temple we get some lunch in one of the restaurants. Four or five plates of food are brought out and we are each given a small bowl and some chopsticks. Good enough eating, rice, beef stirfy, tofu (which I spilt half my can of coke in), and some greens. Our tour was meant to include a two hour hike or a cable car to the top pagoda built in a cave at the top of the mountain. I wanted to do the hike but it would have taken too long for the whole group so we took the cable car up and walked down. The views were pretty cool on the way up anyway.

At the top there is a large cave, similar to Dunmore cave if memory serves me well... ie a bit whole in the side of a cliff. Inside there are lots of buddha images and statues, there is even ones for praying to for babies one buddha for a boy and another for a girl (we stayed clear of them). Lots of people were down praying in the area and making offereings. I asked what happens to the offerings and was told the Buddha takes them, gives back a small bit and the monks eat the rest. The offerings were mostly the vietnamese version of a chocolate mikado or one of those. After the temple we walked down the stall lined path back to the dock area and got the boat back to the bus and the bus back to Hanoi

Seem like there was something missing from the above story?