Reaching Vietnam and Perfume Pagoda

Reaching Vietnam, as usual for our travelling days- sleep deprived and shabby, our first experience that picked us up a little was becoming millioneres in the money exchange counter. And this was only our two-days budget. :)

What a difference though from the Philippines. Tourists everywhere. After 3 weeks of hardly seeing any westerners, being suddenly surrounded by them, left us rather depressed. It is the authenticity and the local culture that we are looking for after all.

Whether it is possible to get immersed in the local culture, like we did in Philippines, remains to be seen. One of the obstacles seems to be the difference in Vietnamese culture. It is understandable that after a long and difficult history with the Western countries and the many wars, the Vietnamese have turned more closed and suspicious with the foreigners, after all- didn't this also happen to us Estonians. Communication however is very hard here- we do not understand the Vietnamese accent, and they almost never understand what we are saying. They always nod their head and say "Yes", yet they haven't understood at all.

A typical experience so far... In one cafe I ordered a a double espresso from the menu. The waitress said, "Yes". After 15 minutes I repeated my order. "Yes". After another 20 mins I decided to ask one more time. "Yes". When another 20 minutes had passed Lii asked if they do coffee. "Yes". When I asked for the menu to show my order I was however (finally) informed "No, Vietnamese coffee only." I do not know what she thought I had been asking her- perhaps she thought I had been telling her "Espresso- fast." Or rather, "Double fast!" She must have thought me very strange indeed. Anyway- the Vietnamese coffee was a very unique tasting experience, sweet and somewhat chocolaty, and we are already beginning to like it.

The first hotel that we picked from the Lonely Planet, where it had been described as "new", was in fact so new that it hadn't yet been completed. This left us a bit nervous. The reason- we were very reluctant to do a simple operation of crossing the road. Traffic here is mental. Dominated by motorcycles, lacking in any road rules, and most of all- nobody will give a pedestrian way. If you want to cross the road you have to simply walk into traffic. Your instinct is to close your eyes, make a prayer and run but the only way to accomplish this task is rather to walk slow and try to look at the approaching drivers, pleading this way to them not to run you over. However I am pretty sure that after a while we will start to like this madness, as we have with all the other excitement (read- threats to your life).

Finally we found a hotel. With a bath, tv, fridge- completely unaccustomed luxury! Ahh! :)

For the next day we had booked a trip to Perfume Pagoda. The weather wasn't great, the sky was dull and gray and it was drizzling rain most of the time, but the scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed the trip regardless.

The Perfume Pagoda or Perfume Temple is in fact a vast complex of Buddhist temples and shrines built into the limestone Huong Tich mountains. It is the site of a religious festival which draws large numbers of pilgrims from across Vietnam. Source

Perfume Pagoda is located on the limestone rocks of Huong Son Mountain and can be reached after 70 km or 2 hours driving out of Hanoi.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

The highlight of the trip was the one-hour boat ride on the Yen Vi river in order to reach the Huong Son Mountain.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

We took the cable car up to the mountain and trekked down through the jungle on the way back.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

Somebody had also left some beer to the Buddha.

It is thought that the first temple was a small structure on the current site of Thien Tru which existed during the reign of Le Thanh Tong in the 1400’s. Legend claims that the site was discovered over 2000 years ago by a monk meditating in the area, who named the site after a Tibetan mountain where Lord Buddha practiced asceticism. [Wiki]

Our impression of the temple was that it somewhat went against the message of Buddhism. The guide was showing us trees to touch in order to become more wealthy, or to have many children, the temple was surrounded by little stalls to sell different items to tourists. People flocked in, took a few photos, some made a few bows, some left money for the donation, but the general atmosphere was that of commercialism and adulation instead of spiritual peace and quiet space to reach the truths within.

Even later that evening we found the Buddha statues everywhere where the didn't belong- bars, clubs, restaurants. In other words- so far this Buddhist country has seemed very much like any Western one, when it comes to spirituality. Looking forward to visiting some monasteries later on. Also I hope with all my heart not to be prejudiced towards this country, whether it is because of the regime of Communism, which of course evokes some of our own national scars; or the recent events to do with Thich Nhat Hanh's monastery, which naturally can leave one outraged (I have asked now about a dozen of book-sellers if they have any books by Thich Nhat Hanh and to my surprise no Vietnamese have heard of him) ; or just a comparison between the countries we have seen before. Our aim is to be travellers, always with an open mind and heart, never judging or comparing but seeing things as they are. Also seeing ourselves and our own weaknesses. We are grateful to Vietnam for their hospitality and are looking forward to exploring its beauty, truth and spirit. If it is our own beauty AND ugliness we find- then we will be doubly grateful for that.