Sunny Pigs

Had a lovely day today at the ancient Tay Thien Monastery in Vin Phuc province. Tay Thien is believed to be the birthplace of Vietnamese Buddhism. Apparently a Buddhist monk from India traveling here in the 3rd century BC chose this mountain as the spot from which to propagate the religion. It's not too far from our centre - about a 20 minute xe om (moto taxi) ride, depending on how fast your driver is! We've had a vet, Larry visiting from Taronga Zoo, who has also been working for the Cat Ba Langur Project for the last two months, so K. and I decided to show him some of the sights around the area.

We caught a cable car (!) up to the monastery which is near the top of of the mountain and walked around some beautiful old temples and shrines. I will have to put some more photos up on fb and share the link when I get a chance. The cable car ride is so beautiful and scenic, passing over mostly untouched rainforest, creeks and a very beautiful cascading waterfall. Instead of taking the car back down we decided to walk along the path (which is how most Vietnamese get to the top, as the cable car is quite expensive by Vietnamese standards). Thankfully it was mostly downhill, a little bit of slipping but mostly easy walk down the 4000 odd steps. Along the way we came across two of the most adorable pigs! Maybe I should have blipped part of the monastery but I feel these blissful sleeping pigs deserved some recognition :) We also came across eight adorable puppies! It was so hard not to take one home with me...

Back at the bottom of the mountain we stopped in a little cafe for a quick bowl of Pho (noodle soup - the Vietnamese national dish) before catching a xe om back to the centre. A pretty nice way to spend a Sunday I think!