Perfume Pagoda

A rowing boat slips into the stream called Suối Yến, its oars stirring the water gently. Steep limestone cliffs rise on both sides. The water is clear and holds the reflections of the mountains, like an ink-wash painting. The stream runs about 3 kilometers from Bến Đục to Bến Trò. The stream is the only way into the Hương Sơn complex, also called Chùa Hương.

Chùa Hương is not a single pagoda. It is more than 20 temples, pagodas and caves scattered across a system of limestone mountains. They lie in Hương Sơn commune, in the Mỹ Đức area of Hanoi, about 60 kilometers southwest of the center of the capital. The complex has been a National Monument since 1962. In 2017 it was raised to the rank of Special National Monument.

The Chùa Hương festival is the longest in Vietnam. It begins on the sixth day of the first lunar month and runs until the end of the third lunar month, almost three months. It draws millions of pilgrims every year.

Along the banks, people have given a name to each mountain. There are the Crouching Elephant, the Tray of Sticky Rice, the Phoenix, the Drum and the Gong. These are folk names, not official geographic names. But once someone explains the shape and you look again, you see that the name fits.

Beyond Bến Trò, on foot, stands Thiên Trù Pagoda. Its name means "the Kitchen of Heaven." It is the largest pagoda in the complex, a place to gather and rest before the climb to Hương Tích Cave. Its main buildings went up from the end of the 17th century, under the Trịnh lords and the Lê emperors. The Trịnh lords were a noble family who dominated northern Vietnam. Most of the pagoda was destroyed in 1947, in the war against the French. It has been rebuilt only since 1989.

From Thiên Trù there are two ways up to Hương Tích Cave. One is a climb over stone steps. The other is a cable car. Many people ride up to save their strength, then walk down to take in the view.

And then comes the mouth of Hương Tích Cave.

Just to the left of the entrance, five Chinese characters are carved into the rock: "Nam thiên đệ nhất động." They are not recent. Lord Trịnh Sâm had them carved in the third month of 1770, the year Canh Dần, when he came to see the cave. He was touring the Sơn Nam region at the time. Trịnh Sâm was a lord with a gift for literature and a taste for the beauty of nature. He gave the cave the title "Nam thiên đệ nhất động," meaning "the most beautiful cave of the southern sky." And he had it carved into the stone so that no one would forget.

Inside, the cave is wide, with a high ceiling, and electric light falls on the masses of stalactites. People have named each formation for its shape: the rice heap, the money heap, Mount Cô, Mount Cậu, the gold tree, the silver tree and the pig trough. These are names from folk tradition, not geological names. Each formation took thousands to millions of years to form, drop by drop, layer by layer, in the dark of the mountain.

Inside the cave stands Hương Tích Pagoda, also called Chùa Trong, the Inner Pagoda. It is dedicated to Quan Thế Âm, the bodhisattva of compassion. According to Vietnamese folk Buddhist legend, it was here that the Bodhisattva Quan Thế Âm Diệu Thiện practiced and attained enlightenment. For that reason, Hương Tích Cave has become one of the most important centers of Quan Âm worship in Vietnam.

Coming out of the cave and looking back from above, you see the whole scene: Suối Yến, the limestone mountains and the villages around them. That is why people say Chùa Hương is not only a place of pilgrimage. It is an entire landscape.

Then there are the specialties of Chùa Hương: Hương Tích apricots, apricot wine, rau sắng and bánh chè lam. Rau sắng is the young leaves and shoots of a small forest tree, boiled and eaten as a vegetable. Bánh chè lam is a sweet cake made mainly from sticky rice, ginger and peanuts. The Hương Tích apricot is a variety grown in Hương Sơn commune, and its flavor differs from apricots of other regions. On the way out, vendors lay out fresh apricots on both sides of the path, and the scent drifts on the wind. It is the scent of Hương Sơn, found only here.