Perfume Pagoda, 1day

Chua Huong (Perfume pagoda) is located in Huong son (Perfume mountain) 70 km southwest of Hanoi. Chua Huong is not one temple but a cluster of temples and shrines in the general vicinity of Huong son. The pagoda(s) are located in My Duc hamlet in the province of Ha Tay. According to the book, Huong Son Thien Tru Pha, Huong Tich temple was built during the reign of Le Chinh Hoa (1680-1705), by a monk who happened on the site on his way to search for enlightenment. Other shrines and temples were later built in this area to take advantage of the beautiful scenery in this area...

Details of Tour: 

AM : Departure at 8h00. The bus to pick you up at hotel and take 2 hours road trip. Then you take row-boat trip to go visit that land on the Yen stream "romantic time" about 1 hour to Thien Tru harbour. Then you will enjoy time to trekking go up and down visit the main cave so nice, step by step you will arrive Huong Tich cave on the top of the mountain. To see Golden-Silver tree, rice stuck....One hour down. Have lunch at bottom mountain in restaurant beside.

PM : After lunchtime, you will see the Heaven Kitchen pagoda and to know about Buddhism ancient architectural at Le Dynasty. Then you will come back by row-boattrip and 2 hours road trip to Hanoi and arrive at about 18h00.

Tour price:

The trip includes 

• The car with air-condition

• English speaking tour guide

• Meals specified in tour program

• All entrance, permission and visiting fees

The trip excludes 

• Visa to Vietnam

• Departure airport tax

• Meals which are not included in the program

• Personal travel & medical insurance

• International flights to and from Vietnam

• All personal & daily expenses

• All gratuities and tips to drivers and guides

Note:  Surcharges for peak seasons, Christmas and New Year Holidays, lunar New Year Festival, extras for room, air tickets upgrades shall be applied

General information about Huong pagoda:

The Huong Pagoda

The Huong Pagoda (Perfume Pagoda) is located in Huong Son district, Ha Tay province, about 75 km away from Southwest of Ha Noi. Surrounded by vast green rice-growing plains, this is a complex of pagodas and Buddhist shrines built into the limestone cliffs of Huong Tich Mountain. Most temples were set amidst a chain of blue mountains, forests, lakes and grottoes. Among the better known sites here are Thien Chu (Pagoda Leading to Heaven), Giai Oan Chu (Purgatorial Pagoda), and Huong Tich Chu (Pagoda of the Perfumed Vestige). The highest cave is situated on the top of the mountain. Thousands of stone steps easily challenge tourists' adventurous desires. Even elderly women are devoutly wearing long kerchiefs while murmuring their prayers between their lips in the belief that it would lessen the arduousness of the climb.

Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims and tourists are attracted to visit this place especially in the three spring months because of The Chua Huong Festival. This festival, the biggest and longest annual festival in Viet Nam, was opened in My Duc district, northern Ha Tay province, on January 29th, the sixth day of the first lunar month. Visitors wish to enjoy the matchless beauty of the Huong Son lime-mountains in this time when apricot forests here blossom and to pay their tribute to Buddha, or more exactly to Avalokitasvara, one of Buddha's disciples.

The Huong pagoda has a long history in Vietnamese literature. The archeologists have found in several caves on the Huong Son mountain range indisputable evidences of the presence of early man. This pagoda, its name, has been a theme of many songs, topic of poetry, used in literary works as well as backdrops for paintings. The well-known poet in the 19th century, Chu Manh Trinh, wrote:

"Under the sky is the landscape of Buddha,

The joy of visiting Huong Son is the dream of everyone

Look! The mountains, the water, the clouds,

People wonder, is here the land of fairies?".

The scenery of Huong Son is that the mountains, river and forest and appears like an oasis in the middle of the great plains of northern Viet Nam.

Ben Duc

Visitors to Perfume pagoda must drive through Ha Dong city, Van Dinh township to Ben Duc (pier Duc). The road is in poor condition so it can take more than 2 hours to travel the 50 miles from Hanoi to Ben Duc. Although there is a road from the pier to the base of Perfume mountain, most people choose to use row boats on Yen Vi river, which is by far the more romantic and scenic route to chua Huong. 

Chua Huong is famous for the annual pilgrimage of Buddhists. Every year, between February and March, Hoi Chua Huong or Chua Huong festival draws hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country. The festival is also a very popular place for young couples to meet and it is also a place where many budding romances are formed. During this time of the year, Ben Duc is packed with thousands of row boats used for shuttling visitors. For some, this one-hour boat ride on the Yen Vi river is the highlight of the trip. It is also the source of inspiration of many famous poems. 

Thien Tru Temple

There is an informal protocol when arriving to Chua Huong. The first stop must always be a visit to Den Trinh. Den Trinh means registration shrine. All visitors to Chua Huong must first "trinh" or register at the shrine and to announce their intentions. The next point of interest would be a visit to Thien Tru temple (chua Ngoai - Outer Temple). The temple was built in the 18th century. Thien Tru means heavenly kitchen. This name was derived from the imagination of the locals in this region. Supposedly, the rock formations in this area look like chefs busily working in the kitchen. The name Thien Tru is also the name of a constellation - for the god of the kitchen.  

Thien Tru temple is famous for the Thuy Tien tower, a granite monolith. To the right of Thien Tru temple is Tien Son grotto. Tien son is famous for the five granite statues and the various formations on the walls of the cave. When struck, these formations sound like a Vietnamese percussion instrument called "Khanh", and some sound like bells. 

Perfume Mountain

Thien Tru temple is surrounded by hills and mountains. There are also many man made towers built by various kings during their reign. Today, to accommodate the thousands of tourists each year, there are lodging facilities for those who wish to stay overnight.  A visit to chua Huong is incomplete without going to chua Trong or Inner temple (also known as Dong Huong Tich - Huong Tich grotto). The path to Huong Tich grotto is forged by nature through thousands of years of changes. Today, the path leading to chua Trong is a series of smooth granite slabs stacking on one another creating a series of switch backs leading to the temple. 

Huong Tich Grotto

Upon arriving to Huong Tich grotto, there is a 120 steps descend as the temple lies deep within the grotto. At the entrance to the grotto, there is "heaven's gate" (path to heaven) and "hell's gate" (descend to hell). In the 18th century, Lord Trinh Sam had 5 words, "Nam Thien De Nhat Dong" meaning, "the most beautiful grotto under southern sky", carved onto the granite slab at the entrance to Huong Tich grotto. According to legend, the cave was discovered two thousand years ago. However, local people only began to place a shrine there in 1575, and later a larger temple was built.  

There are many colorful stalagmites and stalactites within the cave. Each is given a name for their purported features. Some of the more famous ones are Cay Gao - Rice Stick, Cay Vang - Golden stick, Nui Co - the maiden and Nui Cau - the youth. Nui Co and Nui Cau supposedly look like the head of a young children. It is believed that couples who wish for children often pay homage to Huong Tich grotto and to especially visit Nui Co and Nui Cau to pray for their first born. 

A visitting Huong pagoda

Last weekend, a girl at my office asked me whether I wanted to join a one-day trip with her family to the Perfume Pagoda or not. I replied to her at once "Sure, I'll go." That's a wonderful advantage of being free and single. I can go anywhere anytime I want. The Perfume Pagoda is located in Huong Son commune, My �uc district, Ha Tay province, 60km away from Hanoi. Every year, the festive season at the Perfume Pagoda lasts from 6 January to 25 March of Vietnamese lunar calendar. It means almost 3 months after Tet (the lunar new year). It's also the busiest time for both visitors (many of them are Buddhist pilgrims) and local people. At the other time of the year, most of the people who visit the place are foreign and local tourists.

There are 10 sites to visit at the Perfume Pagoda's area: Thien Tru pagoda, Hinh Bong pagoda, Giai Oan pagoda, Huong Tich cave, Trinh temple, Thanh Son (Chua Me - Mother pagoda), Long Van, Cay Khe, Tuyet Son (�uc Thanh Ca) and Mau Me temple. There are some branches on the Yen stream. If we want to visit some of the above sites, we must turn toward that direction. Most of the tourists like us, who spend only a day at the area, always visit such major sites like Trinh temple, boat ride along Yen stream, Thien Tru pagoda and Huong Tich cave.

We left Hanoi at 8am and back at 8pm. The bus ride took us an hour. We visited Trinh temple, then got a boat to Thien Tru pagoda, which was built during King Le Thanh Tong dynasty (1442-1497). The 30-minute boat ride along the 5km Yen stream is the most interesting and relaxing part of the trip. We enjoyed a great view of the mountains along the stream and fresh air in the countryside, which is different with the noise and pollution in the large cities. After we visited Thien Tru pagoda, we had a lunch with the food we brought from home. It was fun sitting on the pagoda's yard and shared the food together.

More than 10 years ago on my first trip to the Perfume Pagoda, I had to wake up early in the morning and climbed up the mountain to Huong Tich cave. Recently, a cable car system was installed, so it saved a lot of time and energy for the visitors. A ticket for a round trip by cable car costs VND 70,000 (US$5). Tourists can book a tour to the Perfume Pagoda at the travel agents in Hanoi's Old Quarter. I'm not sure whether they go by cable car or still climb up the mountain. I still remember how hard it was on my last trip when climbing up the mountain along narrow and bumpy stairs. At that time, we needed bamboo sticks to assist us when going up and down.

Again there was a great mountain view, when we looked through windows on the cable car. A funny thing on the trip was that when the cable car stopped at the Technical Terminal on the way to the main cave, the door was open and we saw lots of money on the ground. There is a warning there "This is Technical Terminal. Don't throw money here." In Vietnam, sometimes when a regulation states "Don't do" people always "Do". Lots of VND 200 (the notes of very small value) were thrown from the cable car into the ground of the Technical Terminal, right under the board "Don't throw money here!".

Along the way to Huong Tich cave, the locals sold many things, some of them are local specialties. Most of the offerings are the same as at the other pagodas in northern Vietnam, so I only took photos of some special things, for example, small tortoises, plums, apricots etc. Huong Tich cave is located on the high mountain, also is the main destination on the trip. I was amazed by the crowd on the way down to the cave and inside it. On my last trip many years ago, I even couldn't get into the cave, because it was too crowded. This time I tried to walk down to the front side of the cave and couldn't go farther to see the Buddha statue, as it was dark and crowded at the rear of the cave, plus a wet and slippery pathway. I cannot imagine how many people were actually there, and it still wasn't the busiest day during the festive season.

There are hundreds boats carrying tourists along the Yen stream. We had to pay for the ticket and boat ride VND 55,000, then gave the boat drivers some tips at the end of the trip. Both local men and women row the boats, and they look so healthy because of this good exercise every day. When our boat was approaching the stream bank, there were many other boats at the quay. Our boat driver had to push them toward different sides, so that we could come close to the bank. It was fun pushing the other boats apart and finding a way for our boat. We even had to walk on the other boats until we could get into the bank.

Many people go to the Perfume Pagoda during its annual festive season. The family I travelled with visited the place every year over the past 10 years. My sister from Sai Gon also loves to visit it every time she is back home in Hanoi during Tet. Visiting pagodas and praying good luck for the new year are traditional customs in Vietnam.