The past few days have been amazing with trips to Perfume Pagoda and now we are in Sapa. Perfume Pagoda is a day trip from Hanoi, which required an easy 2 hour bus ride into the country to the Perfume River. Motorized boats are not allowed on the river, and the only way to get to the pagoda, a well-known pilgrimage site, is by having a woman row you by small boat for an hour to the mountain. The scenery is incredible with limestone cliffs and lush fields on all sides. When we arrived at the mountain we had an intense hour hike up to the top to find an incredible opening into a huge cave. This is where one of the more famous temples is hidden and it's breathtaking.
The next night, we left Hanoi for Sapa by overnight sleeper train, which was pretty nice. Sapa is a very mountainous area about 9 hours north of Hanoi and is known for its stunning views of rice terrace farming and hill tribes. Yesterday, we took a four hour hike to Black H'mong and Red Dzao villages accompanied by our tour guide and four Black H'mong women who went with us the whole way so that we would by goods from them later! They were very sweet and the tactic worked as we are now proud owners of a pillowcase, two bags and a belt! :) The trek was incredible and it would take way too long to describe in detail so we will have to wait for the photos to give you a better idea. At the end we went back to the town of Sapa by motorbike taxi. As we descended back up the mountain, the fog and mist had rolled in and it was a very surreal sight. Pooped after a long day, we passed out around 7pm with no dinner and woke up at 8:30 this morning! Vacation is tough work...
- Ronit & Tom
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