Off to the Perfume Pagoda

We took a 2 hour bus trip to a small village, and then climbed into small boats and journeyed about one hour upstream into the hills.



The boats were paddled by healthy, strong women. Women about the same age as our grandmothers.





We had an Enlgish speaking guide- Thuc- who warned us not to shift in the boats, for fear that we would capsize them.






We climbed for about an hour, maybe one thousand or more vertical feet, although Paul's GPS said that we were only at and altitude of 92 feet. The view from the top was spectacular, and inside a cave at the peak was the temple.



We prayed for gold medals.



Then set sail back down stream. Sweaty, tired, and well fed; a lunch of Vietnamese delights in our stomachs. And, yes, the boats were lower in the water on the return trip.

Tomorrow is the official arrival day; the day after is the opening ceremony. In three days is the theoretiucal exam. Maybe we will get some studying in tonight.