Perfume Pagoda

One of the more incredible and memorable trips we took... Starting from the township of My Duc, an all day by row-boat up the slow lazy Suoi Yen River (it's the only way to get there). Located on Nui Huong Tich (Fragrant Vestige Mountain), and nestled atop the forested limestone cliffs, the Huong Tich & Tien Son Pagoda is set in a cave and one of the holiest buddhist shrines for the Vietnamese. Its an absolute mother of a climb, and it was a brutal hike, but of course it's wonderful once you've reached the top . There's something really odd about the step 'risers' - they're unnaturally high and a terrific workout - (if you're into that sort of thing in 38°C+ temperatures with 85% humidity!). We were toast by the end of the day! The boats were these super shallow all steel affairs, and all painted the same matte red oxide. If you added a bit of oil, we would have been sautéed and sizzling.










Snake wine, of course...

Weird, weird dolls. What were they thinking.....







At the entrance to the Huong Tich cave.

The stairs leading down to the cave.