PERFUME PAGODA (CHUA HUONG)

A visit to the Perfume Pagoda (Chua Huong) takes many forms of transport: on land, by water, in the air, by car, by rowing boat, by cable car. After an hour in a rowing boat on the Yen River, we reach the Perfume Pagoda, a collection of pagodas and temples. It's a magnificent site, set against a backdrop of tormented karst forms that are the stuff of legend. Streams, caves and mountains intermingle to create "the most beautiful landscape in the southern skies". Pagodas and shrines are dedicated to the goddess Quan Am and built into the cliffs of the Fragrant Footprint mountain, Huong Tich.

The Huong pagoda is the subject of a festival that extends far beyond its anniversary date. The festivities begin in the middle of the^2nd lunar month and continue until the last week of the^3rd lunar month, i.e. around six weeks between March and April, at the end of the first harvest. Every year, the festivities bring together almost half a million pilgrims from all over the country. City dwellers and peasants alike flock to the festival to ask for a good agricultural season and for good fortune in the coming year. Nature's renewal is seen as a favorable time for the gods to show mercy. The festive season has its attractions, thanks to the events organized, but if you want to savour the beauty and serenity of this site, one of the most sacred in Vietnam, it's best to choose a time when it's given over to solitude and contemplation.

On the way up, you'll discover numerous pagodas clinging to the mountainside: Thien Tru (Heavenly Kitchen), Tien (Fairies), Huong Tich Chu (Perfumed Footprint), Giai Oan (Purgatory). The latter is particularly revered, as it is believed to purify souls and heal sorrows. More than the buildings themselves, which have undergone many alterations over the centuries, it is the entire setting that is conducive to mystical fervor. In fact, the site is a candidate for inclusion on UNESCO's list of world cultural heritage sites. Recently, the government has taken steps to destroy places of worship illegally built by private individuals for profit. Paradoxically, it has authorized the construction of a cable car, the aesthetic value of which remains to be demonstrated.