Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, although you wouldn't think it as it is alot smaller than Ho Chi Minh City, practically all the international flights go from HCMC rather than from Hanoi and weather wize - it is awful.
I know it is rainy season in Vietnam but Hanoi takes this to a whole other level. Basically it starts to rain in July and doesn't stop until the beginning of October. On good days the rain will stop by mid afternoon on the majority of days it won't. Travel for a couple of hours outside Hanoi and it will be bright sunshine. So why make this grey miserable place the capital? You can see how overcast it is in the photo - and yes it was raining when I took this. This is a small shrine on an island in Hoan Kiem lake - in fact it is dedicated to a giant turtle. Legend has it that the King (in the 15 century)had a magic sword that defeated the Chinese, whilst on the lake a giant turtle took the sword and returned into the deep of the waters. So not a lady of the lake but a turtle of the lake! Now there is a large walkway that goes all around the lake with some tiny areas of park included in this pedestrianized walkway. What has this got to do with bad town planning I hear you ask. Well the walkway is tiled, similar to the floor you can see in the photo of the monk. It looks really good... however there is a small flaw with these tiles. When they become wet they become incredibly slippery - to the point where it can be dangerous to walk on them if it is raining. Its a good job it doesn't rain in Hanoi then!!!!!
I only had a few days in Hanoi after Halong Bay and after the second day of continual rain and greyness I decided to venture a little further afield on my last day in Vietnam. I joined a tour group going to visit the Perfume Pagada a couple of hours drive away. It is a temple built inside a mountain that is very important to the Vietnamese Buddhists. Alot of locals go on a pilgrimage there once a month. The pilgrimage had happened a few days earlier so the site would have few visitors. As we exited the minivan, the first thing I noticed was that it was dry. Although we had come to the end of the road, we were still a while from our destination. To get to the mountains you had to take the river. A small rowing boat picked us up and we were moving silently through the water lillies, gazing at the landscape.I do enjoy a good boat ride and this had stunning scenery and the occassional family of white ducks. We were in the boat at least 40 minutes before arriving at the complex of temples. At the base of the mountain there were 6 additional temples. We visited a couple and as you can see the monk even posed for a picture. Before today I had not considered visiting a religious site an extreme activity - now I do. Remember that the Hanoi tiles were slippery, well the floor covering here was lethal. It wasn't even raining and they were still lethal. I could not stand up - every step was calculated - the slightest move could leave me with a broken leg. You have seen the cartoons where the character is wearing roller skates and is trying to stay upright whilst skating over marbles - that is a good indication of what I looked like. It wasn't just me and my flipflops though, the guide who was wearing sensible black patent shoes kept falling - as did the German girl wearing sturdy trainers. To make it even harder, as the path went up a mountain alot of these tiles were at 45 degree angles. Which ever town planner laid this floor was clearly insane.
After a small interlude for lunch we had a decision to make, climb to the top of the mountain or take the cable car. Our guide suggested cable car up and walk down. This brings me to extreme activity number 2 - cable cars. I really don't like them. Throwing myself out of a plane is fine but a box attached to a wire above a mountain has never seemed like fun. My co-passenger, a German pilot, tried to reassure me as he recognised the make of cable car. It was Austrian built and they are good at this sort of thing. I was fine until half way up when the cab went through a half way station. On exiting it lurched vigorously from side to side and was still rocking wildly when we reached the top. It was a short walk now until we reached the entrance of the temple. It is called the Perfume Pagoda due to the beautiful smell given off by the thousands of wild flowers that grow on the mountainside in summer. I was not expecting what I saw next. I descended some steps that led to a cave opening, I could see a small Buddhist shrine outside the cave - far enough, but as you moved into the cave entrance - WOW. The cave was filled with very impressive stalactites and stalagmites. We walked slowly amongst these, our guide explaining that each one meant something to the believers. There was a stalagmite to rub and pray to if you wanted to improve your health, or have a female child, or become more successful at work. My guide gave me a blessing at the fulfilled life stalagmite and slashed the water that was on the rock over me. At the bottom of the cave was the main shrine (photo above) where there were a number of people praying, hitting drums or in the case of the case of the gentleman above - reading aloud from scriptures.
After leaving the serenity of the cave came extreme activity number 3. Descending the mountain. I thought that as the path was mainly natural ie compacted mud instead of tiles that walking on it would be straightforward. Wrong. Alot of steps had been built into the path to make the journey easier. However these were very uneven and mainly sitting under a sheen of water. Walking on the steps was dangerous. Gingerly we all went slowly. Then some red mud started to appear on the steps - it had now become very difficult not to slide. Half an hour later, just for fun, a layer of wet leaves covered the muddy, slimy, waterlogged steps. And just as I thought walking could not get "tougher than this" the nightmare that is the green mud appeared. Green mud is to be greatly feared over the red mud. Red mus is easy to spot but green mud is almost invisible, blending in with the puddles and wet foliage. The first sign it is there is normally witnessing the legs of the person in front shoot out from under them. This really was the hardest walk I have been on and to cap it all - there was no view. It should have been a stunning vista walking down a mountainside but in was like walking through an open topped tunnel. Both sides of the path have permanent covered stalls along them blocking out all light. These are to sell souvenirs / offerings to the pilgrims. Thankfully today there were all empty. It was with a great sense of relief that we made it back down to the riverside. After the return boat then bus trip I was dropped off back in Hanoi next to the lake and turtle shrine. I decided not to venture onto the walkway. I'd been lucky so far today - I had no major falling over incident - but I did not want to push my luck!
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