The Boy and The Coconut Tree

As soon as I settled in Hanoi I began to explore the area close to Hanoi and further afield. One of my first visits was to the Perfume Pagoda  a day trip from Hanoi.  I joined a group of 10 people on the coach, we were from Germany, Australia, Malaysia and Russia. Thankfully all of us had a grasp of English enough to talk in the coach and on the climb up to the pagoda in the mountain. The trip involves a boat ride along the river. The woman rowers are fierce. They are able to row and sell you crappy trinkets at the same time. One of them asked me to marry her. I had to decline, I cannot imagine me being a house husband in the  My Duc  District of Vietnam.  The pagoda and the mountain are wonderful, despite the huge tourist shops and hawkers at the bottom of the mountain.  The Pagoda and the mountain Part of the Pagoda complex The path up is not steep but hidden in the trees were chained monkeys, and quite aggressive they are too, I discov...