Located 60 kilometers southwest of Hanoi, Perfume Pagoda is the famous Buddhist temple and spectacular place for sight-seeing in northern Vietnam, comprising a complex of pagodas and Buddhist shrines which are built into the limestone cliffs of Huong Son or Perfume Mount, along the mountain up to the peak.

Although tourists prefer to come here in spring, the Scenic Area still attracts tourists in other seasons thanks to its wonderful natural scenery.

Riding a boat through Canary stream is the only way for visitors to access the sightseeing. Sitting on a wooden boat that is rowed by hand and watching the scenery can be the most peaceful moment during your journey to Perfume Pagoda.

In early winter, the trees on both sides of Canary stream are changing their leaves. The thin branches become the highlight for the wonderful natural picture with the towering limestone mountains on the background.

Now is the time of water lily season. Thousands of purple pink water lilies form vivid flower beds, covering all over the surface of Canary stream

Water lilies usually bloom at dawn. After nine o’clock, its petals will close slowly. Therefore, visitors who wish to admire the most wonderful moment of the water lilies need to visit Canary stream between 6 and 9am.

The Canary stream is about 4km long and joins the Day River. It is also known as “Yen Vi” or Canary’s tail. The brilliant water lilies color the whole stream pink.

The vivid purple flowers are not only ideal for adorning the landscape, but also a rich source of food and help to bring back a great income for local residents.

Nguyen Thi Hang from Yen Vy Village (Huong Son Commune) was the initiator of water lilies planting on Canary stream and neighboring lagoons. “In the past, my family’s lagoons used to be the low productive rice fields. Most of the family’s income came from steering boats on Canary stream to take visitors to Huong Son Scenic Area. Our income has been more stable since we switched to growing water lilies and offering tourism services”.

Hang’s two water lily lagoons can attract dozens of tourists who come to contemplate the flowers and take pictures every weekend.

Spending around VND100,000 (US$4.3) to VND 300,000 ($13), visitors can rent a boat with a driver for enjoying the marvelous scenery of Canary stream and neighboring water lily lagoons.

The vivid flowers and charming local women in Ao Dai highlight the beauty of natural landscape of the Huong Son-Suoi Yen scenic area.