The next day, I had the best churro of my life for breakfast. I ate 3 of them, possibly more. I don’t know what it was, but its crunchy outside and soft insides, coated lightly in cinnamon sugar, and matched with blueberry jam was one of my favorite foods from this trip. All the food on this trip was great, but there were obviously some standouts.

Our last official tour stop was at the Tam Chúc temple, built in the mountains. The grey sky and cool air set the tone as we were ferried across a mountain lake to a temple complex. From across the lake, there was no way to comprehend how big it would be.

There were a few temples, but we only visited 3. Each individual temple had large steps leading up to the entrance. You can only enter the temple from the doors on the side, the center doors were reserved for the gods. Housed within are giant golden statues of different gods, the tall ceilings built to accommodate their height. Each door into the temple had intricate hand-carvings. Tam and I reflected on these artifacts and relics, and how some like them hang unceremoniously on museum walls, stolen from living cultures. Other temples were not as lucky to have the same volume of visitors as this one, losing pieces of themselves to vultures disguised as curators.

We walked from temple to temple, progressively moving uphill and getting sweatier and sweatier… Until the clouds broke and it began to pour. Uncle Dad and Tam’s Jesse had hiked to the tallest point and came all the way down just as it started. Tam and I listened to birds sing and watched snails drag themselves across stone. The scene of the entire temple complex changed, and it was beautiful. You could hear the drumming of raindrops against the ground and the sweeping wind across the branches. The chatter of visitors was restrained to the temple roof overhang, drowned out by the nature around us.

View of the Auntie Mom, Nancy, and giant urn from a temple’s steps.

Me with one of the statues in the background.

Intricately carved temple doors at Tam Chúc.

Intricately carved stone relief sculptures at Tam Chúc.

A snail appeared while it rained at Tam Chúc.

The family and our tour guide in an electric van bringing us back to the entrance of Tam Chúc.

We hopped on a tiny, open-air van back to the ferry location. It had no doors or windows, so we had no choice but to enjoy the rain a little longer. I even glimpsed the turquoise blue wings of a bird flying by. Imagine all the stories about striking blue birds playing in the rain. Was that bird a common visitor to the area? What kinds of stories did people here have about what they saw? I’m not sure what kind of bird it is, but my best guess is an Indian roller? I have to do more research to find out.

We made it back to Hanoi and ate phở gà (chicken pho). It was the first time I ate chicken ovaries, and they were pretty good. Then we went to the airport, flew back to Saigon, checked into our Airbnb and rested. It was a whirlwind tour and I was satisfied but tired.