Day 3 - Perfume Pagoda (Huong Tich Mountains/Caves) and Hanoi City (Water Puppets Show)

We woke up ear-late that morning, earlier than the first two days, but pretty late to have our breakfast and to catch the pick-up... We tried hurrying through our meal but Tina assured us that it was alright. The minivan came on time, @ 7.30am (we were told the pickup would come from 7.30-8am), but Tina told the guide to pick the rest of the tourists first before coming back. By the time they came back to pick us up, we were left with the "economy class" seats, which I was actually ok with... just that throughout the next 3 hours ride my legs were on different levelled ground.

There was a pitstop at a souvenir shop, which employed handicapped locals who hand-sowed a huge variety of stitch-like pictures. The souvenir shop reminded me of the Malaysia's pitstop (can't rem the name) coaches would always drop by during the bus rides to Genting Highlands. They also sold food there, and had decent clean toilets. Though the stuff weren't cheap, some of the souvenirs we saw were rather unique so we bought a couple there. Instead of asking the vehicle number of our minivan, they asked us how many people were on our van... which stumped me a little cos I had to use a bit of brain power to answer that qns.

We had 2 guides for our day trip, one of them was a 28 year old young father by the name of Bee, the other was this 23-24 yr old lady by the name of Hue, similar to that of one of Vietnam's city. They mingled with us for a bit, and gave a slight introduction on Hanoi and where we were going, though not as comprehensive as the guide for our Tam Coc's tour during our 2nd last day there, as quoted by dear. Anyways, we were to take a 45 min boat ride along Yen Stream (Yen River) to the area where the Perfume Pagoda was located. 

I think Perfume Pagoda refers to the entire area, with the highlight being the centre of it, also known as Huong Tich Cave, which was on top of a cliff, and one could either walk up or take a cable car up. Along the way up, there's a few mini shrines one can stop to check out, but if taking the cable car up, you'll prolly miss out on those. However, when we asked one of the tourists who walked up on what we had missed out on, she said nothing much.. all she saw was rubbish scattered along the way (fast forward a bit).

(Rewind) When we reached the harbor, or sailoff point, whatever you call it, there were many sampans waiting for us, mostly rowed by women. In Vietnam, expect lotsa girl power. Strangely, the men were mostly the ones coordinating, while the women were the powerhouses. We (my dear and I, with 4 other tourists and Hue) were one of the last few boats to sail off... and we got a hardy looking uncle as the sampan rower. There was also a teenager tagging along with us at the front of the sampan, who was super calefare cos he blocked the picturesque front view. With us, there was a guy by the name of Loius, or Luki, or whatever L-name he had who is a producer of some show where he's from. Not sure if he was smoking the guide, but he did show signs of an inquisitive TV personnel, asking many questions about the Perfume Pagoda, Halong Bay (which he will be going the next day, same as us) and took out a voice recorder to record an "interview" with Hue.

The winds were piercing cold that day, one of the coldest days we experienced in Vietnam. And to make matters worst, we were at a mountainous region, which meant the temperature was actually lower than the city. There were a few aunties selling poncho at the sailoff point, at around 1USD, and several tourists actually bought them, with Louis-ki being one of them. He said that it was pretty effective, somehow, he didn't feel as cold with the poncho on... which I believed to be 80% psychological, and 20% possible cos it wasn't as holey as a jacket or sweater would be.

The boat ride was indeed a chilling experience, having to brave the icy cold winds every now and then. There were "hua sun" floating along the river, which we later found out were actually lotus plants, and came across a nazi-like red bridge, where the boatman had to pay to pass. Didn't know there's such a thing as "river protection $$".

Along the way, we got acquainted with a family who came from Saigon (they were actually on the same minivan as us), with an extremely sweet-looking daughter and a wife who was putting on the world's most adorable bunny earmuffs. She actually added my dear on Facebook on that day. We had lunch at a common restaurant, before walking up a stone-paved road to take the cable car. That was where we first tried the deliciously fried spring rolls, which tasted like Singapore's "Nyo Hiang". 

The food served was very home-cooked, and we had to share the food by passing the plates around... machiam a reunion dinner with relatives from all around the world, and whom you have never met in your life. We were also acquainted with a pair of ladies from Hongkong, and 1 of whom spoke with a polish and soothing English accent. She later introduced us to Ma May street back in main Hanoi city where there's a tasteworthy French restaurant.

There were a few surprises on our way up to the cable car station, with a shopowner selling what looked like squirrels rolled up in a holey green wire mesh; brown tortises and ball-shaped bugs, fear factor style. When asked what the bugs were for (thanks to the husband from Saigon), the shopowner said they were for medicinal purposes.

We hopped on to a cable car together with a Spanish family, consisting of 2 ladies, a little boy and a little girl. Thanks to my "great" snatch-thef encounter I had 8 years ago in Barcelona, I was racistly dao-ing them. However, one of the mums, broke the silence, literally when she took her shoe off and slammed onto the fibreglass window of the cable car, just behind me. When I turned around to see what in the world just happened, I realised she had shoe-crashed an itsy bitsy spider climbing up the glass.

She told us she hated spiders, and that sure did break the awkwardness, and the "prejudice" I had.

The cable car ride was a mere 15 mins, and less than 2 flights of stairs up from the next station, was the entrance to the highly awaited perfume pagoda. Perfume Pagoda was named as such because there's supposed to be a scent around, which my Wolverine-like sense of smell didn't catch.

So was it worth travelling all the way there just to check out the Huong Tich Cave? The site which draws large groups of pilgrams (hundreds of thousands) from all over Vietnam from mid Jan to mid March?

Yes it was.

It was a totally different scenery from whatever we had seen in Vietnam, firstly, there wasn't many "land" caves that we saw, and the experience itself was redundantly special. At least there was a destination through all that rowing, all the walking, all the sitting in a cable car, and all the climbing. Because Huong Tich Cave wasn't that easily accessible, and because we had to cross "land and sea, and land again" to get there, there was some comforting purpose in having to endure the chilling winds and the tedious transfers we had to go through. Furthermore, the cave itself looked very holy from afar.

There was something welcoming about the cave, not sure if it was the way the rocks were structured, or the hanging flags, or the long descending stairway, or this huge piece of cone-shaped rock seemingly hanging from the top of the cave, but while descending the stairs, it felt like I was walking towards salvation.

One could further explore the cave, the cave was divided into 3 main sections, the 1st section being the outer part of it, which you'll get to see once you climb down this long flight of stairs, the 2nd has 2 statues which allowed married couples to wish for either a boy or a girl, depending on the statue they touch (that section's pretty dark), and the 3rd section is where there's different sizes of Buddha statues positioned in a layered arrangement, characteristic of the worship places in Vietnam (that section doesn't allow photography).

There was this huge bell at the front entrance, and we didn't know we could dong the bell only until a group of Chinese lads started to hammer the bell. Initially we thought they would get into trouble, since they were obviously monkeying around, but it started a chain reaction of the visitors climbing up the raised platform to hammer a string of echoing bellrings... that including the little spanish boy we took the cable car with.

Our next stop was the temple at the foot of the hill, Thien Tru I believe. We had initially passed it on our way up, but proved to worth a stopover as well. It was quite a big compound, with little shrine huts all over. Apart from an unkempt pond, and interesting carvings & writings on the stone structures, the highlight was this 5 pillar-like structures reminiscence of the Tranc Qouc pagoda (color).

That marked the end of the attractions around the area, and on our way back, the boatman helped plucked one of the lotus plants along the way, which we spent a great deal of time taking artistic shots of to occupy ourselves during the 45 mins boat ride.

Before the boat ride, the guide had informed us to tip the boatman 20,000 dong, around 1 USD, but when I gave him that amount before getting off, he looked offended and spoke to me in Vietnamese, pointing to my dear. He had actually said that it's both of us, so the "tips" is supposed to be 40,000 dong... I was rather pissed off with that, because he made the "tips" mandatory. Well, I wasn't that stingy with the money, but hated how they had misappropriated the term "tips". They should jolly well have said to just pay 2USD for their efforts...

That didn't spoil my day. On the contrary, I rather enjoyed the day trip. The tedious journey there made it more purposeful, and I could relate to the feelings that the local pilgrims experienced yearly.   

When we arrived back at our hotel, Minh told us that he had managed to get the tickets for the puppets show for us, on that night itself! Even though we weren't given much advanced notice, we were delighted to finally experience the highly acclaimed puppet's show.

The theatre is conveniently located along Hoan Kiem Lake, and we settled for dinner around the vicinity. We finally came across a stall selling the famous Vietnamese spring rolls, original, not fried. We just wacked our order, cos of the language barrier (as usual) but found out that the authentic taste of the spring rolls didn't quite suit our tastebuds. I was actually fine with the ricepaper wraps, though they weren't the usual chewy that of my favourite popiah skin, but the ingredients were overwhelmingly "parsley" tasting. Even though I saw vermicelli, small bits of peanuts, radish and meat, all I tasted were bitter, raw vegetable-like parsley.

The sauce that came along with it was floating with peanut bits, and tasted salty and sweet. There was also rice wine? added (which I saw the lady boss adding) and the taste was similar to that of diluted sweet soya sauce. Another dish which came along with it (can't confirm that cos we simply pointed to whatever the rest of the customers were eating, which were all the same... so it could mean the dish came along with the spring rolls, or the spring rolls came along with this "main" meat dish, or that they were just separate dishes altogether) was a mixture of beef meat and innards. I didn't know what I was eating, but every mouthful packed different textures of flavors.

The after dinner puppet show was a definite eye opener. The concept was very interesting, and throughout the show, both my dear and I were trying to figure out how in the world were the water puppets being controlled (both of us were quietly and unknowingly thinking that to ourselves). The show had won some prestigious award before and ran for around an hour. It comprise of short different segments which showcased Vietnamese cultures... ranging from traditional folklore of dragons and phoenixes to the cultural dances (there was even an Indian influenced dance), it was a must watch experience to all tourists. But, it's truly a one off thing. I don't think I would have watched it again because quite frankly, though fresh, interesting and novel, it was somewhat boring.

There was a separate group of performers playing a range of stringed musical instruments seated at the side of the stage, because the main stage was a pool of water for the water puppeteering. The side of the stage only showcased a few ladies dressed in their traditional white dress, and out of the three of them, 2 were veteran-looking old aunties (grandmas even) and a demure and petite looking younger girl. The girl stole the limelight, with her fair angelic-like beauty, sweetness induced smile and semi-immersed expression, she was the epitome of Vietnamese beauty; pure, innocent and beautiful.

Just before each segment, the focus would veer back to the side performers, and one of the grandmas would give an introduction of the next segment in Vietnamese. Thankfully, there were English subtitles plastered on a limegreen background displayed on a TV screen just above them, to allow the audience to have a better understanding on what to expect next.

The puppeteers presented themselves at the end, popping any floating questions marks we still had to the mechanics of the puppetry.

On a separate note, just before entering the theatre, my dear spotted a sign which stated that there's an extra charge if we want to take any photographs in the theatre. So initially, we tried to be discrete about it, cos we weren't keen on paying close to a dollar just to take photos! But later realised that the staff didn't bother to "enforce" the ridiculous regulations. There were many tourists snapping flash shots during the performance, which was distracting, yet gave me the courage to whip out my point and shoot cam and to take a few shots myself.

After the performance, we decided to hang around the area a bit longer, to explore the place because we would be heading to Halong Bay the next day. That was when we came across a hidden gem... a local shop house by the name of Xoi Yen. We had initially wanted to try this BBQ stall near to our hotel, but after chancing upon Xoi Yen, I thought what the heck, let's just give it a try. It looked real popular among the locals, and my dear told me that she had came across it on the food recommendations in the Tiger Airlines brochure.

Once again, there was communication breakdown, but a group of Ah Huis and Ah Sengs sitting beside us came to our rescue and helped us to order the dishes (after much pointing on our part too). There was English text on the menu, but was quite a long list, so we were spoilt for risky choices.

Xoi Yen served 3 different types of glutinous rice, which were the main dish. You could top it with different ingredients, ranging from pork floss to pate, sausages and eggs. My dear tried the glutinous rice with maize, which tasted like bean paste yellow sticky rice, while I tried the plain glutinous rice, which tasted like slightly soggier Japanese rice.

Everything was delicious! I especially liked the pate, which tasted nowhere like meshed up liver, but more like salty minced pork. Even the soya bean drink we ordered easily won the best soya-bean-drink-we've-tasted award, not just in Vietnam, but in our lives. Sounds like an exaggeration, but the soya bean really tasted ssoooooo goooddddd. The sweetness was just right, and there was an authentic soya taste to it (not like most Singapore brands which taste rather synthetic). It left a light and nostalgic aftertaste, which disappeared quickly, leaving me wanting for more.

Overall, we only paid 81,000 dong for the meal, close to 4 USD, and I vote it the nicest meal (taste & price) we had in Vietnam.

So if you're in Vietnam, be sure to try it! I think we found it along Hang Bach Street (we were actually walking towards Ma May street cos the Hongkie girls we met during our day trip introduced us a French restaurant there) and surprisingly met the girls again at a nearby souvenir shop! It was their last day there, and they also introduced to us yet another reasonable souvenir shop around the area (can't rem the street now).

We found the shop, but decided to leave our souvenir buying to the last day, and made our way back to our hotel because we had to pack for our next stopover for the next few days... the much awaited Halong Bay!!!