Hanoi Trip - Day 4 (Final)
Must admit that so far so good. Despite hearing some negative responds from friends who have visited Hanoi, I found that the trip so far is surprisingly pleasant. Haven't encounter any unpleasant incident so far except for the second day when the taxi driver came to our hotel and another taxi driver bump into his car and some heated argument started. But then, I am not surprise with such tight traffic in Hanoi, there is no way that no people will bump or crash into each other. Insurance companies must be doing good here.
Anyway, the final day is a trip to some Perfume Pagoda. Why perfumed? Well, they said that along the way, there used to be some beautiful plants which smells so good that it is known as, -what else- Perfume Pagoda. I must say the pagoda is not that interesting but the trip along the way there is breath taking. We packed our luggages and put in the lobby as we are scheduled to leace at 9.30pm later and have time for a day trip. The van picked us up and again, we were greeted with heavy motorcycle traffic as we zig zag out of town. Wonder if all the woman here gave their husbands green hat to wear? (Chinese tradition has a saying that a man who wears a green hat means that the wife has ran away with another guy! -Tai Loke Mou" haha)
Its paddy field, paddy field and more paddy field along the way. If Northern Malaysia is the place for paddy field, wait till you see Hanoi! The horizon is just endless with green sights of the field until you can almost see your eyes turning green.
There is so much stocks of rice that the people there has to spray the rice husk inside their house, outside their house, besides their house and even on the roadside to dry the rice! As we were approaching the place, the driver has to avoid so many turns in order not to run over the rice sprayed onto the road.
Scenes of some interesting pictures.
Upon reaching the "wharf" as what the locals call it, we were supposed to ride on this boats and enjoy a 1hour scenic view to reach the temple site. Must say it is really enjoyable. Pity the old lady who has to do all the paddling. No motors here, only manual oars. Was greeted by a school of ducks along the way. A warm quacking welcome, or rather.
Along the way, a group of ducks approach us and gave us some red carpet welcome, I guess. Here are more breathtaking and jaw dropping photos, just beautiful.
We reach the other side of the pier and discover that it will be another steep climbing to do. Oh, no, not again. The view had better be good, I was mumbling to myself. Hey, I have to carry this baby on my back and it is not easy stuff, OK?
Anyway, upon reaching there, we were relieved to heard that there is a cable car available. Thank God. I paid the fares without hesitation. Hey, looks like Joanna is more thirsty than I am..
When we reach the temple at the top, or rather the Perfume Pagoda (Actually, i did not even see any pagoda, just a temple inside a cave, dunno if I have been ripped off by the tour agent) I was quite disappointed that it is only some shrines inside a small cave. The cave is nothing like yesterdays trip but after all the breathtaking view while coming here, it was all worth it and I did not complain at all. So, no photos of caves here. We had lunch there, which is provided by the tour, and after that, began our once again 1 hour cruise back to the pier.
It was sunset by the time we reach the pier and luckily, there was no flat tyre today, so we managed to catch the flight on time. However, we were made to wait on the runway for one hour before the plane detour and park at the terminal building, stating bad weather and have to wait. Heck, I will wait even if it is 3 hours! Probably due to the Phuket air crash, they are now taking things seriously. Thanks, pilot. You made the right decision! To wrap it up, Hanoi is definitely a place worth visiting. Not for the second time though. I don't want to endure the traffic, the arrogance of the people and the chances of being knock in the middle of the street. Give me Thailand anytime.