This year, the Perfume Pagoda Festival will open on the 6^th day of the first lunar month. Local authorities and people in My Duc suburban district have made an effort to upgrade infrastructure and transport services to make it more convenient for pilgrims and tourists. 4,300 boats capable of carrying 55,000 visitors have been in place while Thien Tru wharf have been strengthened and Yen stream has been cleared.

Photo: Quoc Khanh

This festival lasts for nearly three months and is the longest festival held in Viet Nam.   During the Festival, tens of thousands of tourists and pilgrims come to admire the beautiful landscapes, the grottoes and caves, and to implore the spirits for good luck, wealth and happiness in the several pagodas scattered throughout this mountainous area. Those that have made the pilgrimage chant prayers and seek blessings at the many shrines cut into the wet rock of the cave. Popular belief says that the pagoda was built around the end of the fifteenth century on a site discovered by a monk searching for enlightenment. Since then, the Perfume Pagoda has been a major centre for pilgrims and followers of Buddhism.