A very popular and important pilgramage for the Vietnamese is to visit the Perfume Pagoda. Now that the rice crop has been planted, many people have time to visit this shrine. The festival is actually 3 months long in its entirety. To reach it takes two hours by bus from Hanoi followed by a ride for 1 1/4 hours on one of 5000 (!) boats rowed mostly by women. These women demonstrate amazing strength rowing small metal boats with up to 30 people crowded into rowboats that ride right at water level. Rather than oarlocks, the oars are simple tied to a wooden stick. After the boat ride, we had lunch in one of may enormous restaurants on the site and then then took a cable car up a very steep mountain, went up and down countless uneven steps and descended into a huge cavern to find the shrine. Many people were worshiping, so we only took pictures from a distance. We walked down and the path was covered and lined with vendor after vendor.
People seemed to combine this spiritual event with a carnival-like celebration. There were restaurants and vendors lining the river front and entire path up the mountain. These folks sold prayer offerings, CDs of the pagoda, ancestor offerings (things a departed ancestor might be missing in the afterlife), and other things adults and children holiday might enjoy such as candy, speciality foods, t shirts or even plastic dolls that celebrate the importance of male children.
It was a memorable experience to see so many coming this long, and for many,expensive , journey to visit this Pagoda.
a) that scenery is incredible- just like all the paintings.
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c) the shrine looks absolutely amazing. I hope you have more pictures of it.
d) I just do not know what to say about those boy dolls
e) tell Greg and Bonnye hi and we miss them!!