After the cycling tour ended, we enjoyed a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda with two of our fellow riders. Pictured here are Allison on the left who is English and Grethe who is Danish.
We hired a boat and oarsman to take us an hour up the Yen river to the complex of temples and shrines. The boat ride was quiet and peaceful, and we enjoyed the lush greenery covering the limestone hills.
Nestled in the Huong Tich mountains, we think the perfume name comes from the many Frangipani trees that have been planted through out.
The scent of the trees was lovely as we came to the first temple, Thien Tru, which means "heaven's kitchen". It was still decorated for the Buddha's birthday celebration.
This is Quan Am, who is a Buddha in Vietnam. We know her as Kuan Yin, the Boddhisattva of Compassion. Legend has it that she stopped at the Perfume Pagoda as she traveled south, leaving a footprint in the limestone.
We climbed for an hour to get to Huong Tich cave. The mouth of a cave is said to resemble a dragon's open mouth.
There were a series of altars inside the cave, but we read that the stalactites and stalagmites are the big draw; each are named and can grant prosperity or a child to a pilgrim who rubs the stone.
On the drive back to Hanoi we saw rice being harvested. Rice has two crops per year in the north of Vietnam.
Cars and buses help with the threshing, by driving over the rice plants spread across the road.
The rice grains are left to dry on the side of the road for about 3 days.
And the fields are burned, so that the remaining rice plants are turned to ash which helps fertilize the soil.
A second day trip was to Cuc Phuong National Park, the oldest national park in Vietnam that was established in 1962. To fuel ourselves for the day, we started with a delicious bowl of pho, beef noodle soup.
In April and May there are millions of butterflies in Cuc Phuong park.
We hiked through the jungle, which was hot and lush.
The sign claims that this Terminalia Myriocapa tree is 1,000 years old, with a height of 135 feet and a diameter of 17 feet around.
Visiting the Endangered Primates Rescue Center was a highlight. Funded in part by the San Diego Zoo, this center has a successful breeding program. These are male (black fur) and female (blond) Gibbons.
We also went to the Turtle Conservation Center. This pond turtle looks like he’s smiling, perhaps because he escaped being put into a soup pot!
We hired a boat and oarsman to take us an hour up the Yen river to the complex of temples and shrines. The boat ride was quiet and peaceful, and we enjoyed the lush greenery covering the limestone hills.
Nestled in the Huong Tich mountains, we think the perfume name comes from the many Frangipani trees that have been planted through out.
The scent of the trees was lovely as we came to the first temple, Thien Tru, which means "heaven's kitchen". It was still decorated for the Buddha's birthday celebration.
This is Quan Am, who is a Buddha in Vietnam. We know her as Kuan Yin, the Boddhisattva of Compassion. Legend has it that she stopped at the Perfume Pagoda as she traveled south, leaving a footprint in the limestone.
We climbed for an hour to get to Huong Tich cave. The mouth of a cave is said to resemble a dragon's open mouth.
There were a series of altars inside the cave, but we read that the stalactites and stalagmites are the big draw; each are named and can grant prosperity or a child to a pilgrim who rubs the stone.
On the drive back to Hanoi we saw rice being harvested. Rice has two crops per year in the north of Vietnam.
Cars and buses help with the threshing, by driving over the rice plants spread across the road.
The rice grains are left to dry on the side of the road for about 3 days.
And the fields are burned, so that the remaining rice plants are turned to ash which helps fertilize the soil.
A second day trip was to Cuc Phuong National Park, the oldest national park in Vietnam that was established in 1962. To fuel ourselves for the day, we started with a delicious bowl of pho, beef noodle soup.
In April and May there are millions of butterflies in Cuc Phuong park.
We hiked through the jungle, which was hot and lush.
The sign claims that this Terminalia Myriocapa tree is 1,000 years old, with a height of 135 feet and a diameter of 17 feet around.
Visiting the Endangered Primates Rescue Center was a highlight. Funded in part by the San Diego Zoo, this center has a successful breeding program. These are male (black fur) and female (blond) Gibbons.
We also went to the Turtle Conservation Center. This pond turtle looks like he’s smiling, perhaps because he escaped being put into a soup pot!
