Off to the Pagoda

On the Saturday we road a little out of town, by the Perfume River to see the Linh Mu Pagoda.

  Once we go out of town the road was quite wide and quiet.  Along the way we picked up Tess and Keenan, an American PhD student who is working on Vietnamese agriculture and spends time in Hue regularly.

   Time for breakfast and Mary hands out the egg rolls.  Bill, Alexander, Keenen, Mary, Tess.

  Tess gets ready to apply the much needed sun screen.

    Alexander by the Perfume River

.

   Women scooping up catfish on the river's edge.

           A poinciana tree.

    Women set up their cooking equipment everywhere.

    The Linh Mu Pagoda is an icon of Vietnam.  It is a 21m high octagonal tower with seven tiers, built in in 1601. Behind the Pagoda is a lovely Buddhist  Monastery.

    One of the six images of deities that guard the pagoda.

     The Buddhist Temple.

    The gardens are superb.  This is the bonsai courtyard.

   The monks have just finished their chanting.  

   Bougainvillea 

    Tess inspects an enormous  jackfruit.

   This is the famous Austin car that a monk, Thich Quang Dc, from this temple burnt himself to death in, 1963, in protest at President Ngo Dinh Deim's repressive regime  in South Vietnam.

  On the way back we travelled through the countryside by a canal.

   Back in Hue.