Perfume Pagoda, Vietnam
Perfume Pagoda, or Chua Huong, is located in Huong Son, Vietnam. Perfume Pagoda is not one temple but a cluster of temples and shrines in the general vicinity of Huong Son. The pagodas are located in My Duc hamlet in the province of Ha Tay.

Perfume Pagoda has a long history in Vietnamese literature and has been a theme of many songs and poems, and used in literary works and paintings. The uniqueness of Perfume Pagoda is that the mountains, river and forest appear like an oasis for Buddhists in the middle of the great plains of northern Vietnam. This location truly incorporates all the elements of beauty that is often used in Eastern philosophy and arts.

Ruins at My Son, Vietnam
My Son, which flourished from the late 400s to the mid 1200s, was a center of Champa culture. Through commercial and religious contacts with India, the Champa kingdom quickly developed a strong affinity for Indian culture, borrowing Hinduism and the Sanskrit alphabet, as well as Indian architectural and artistic tastes. For many centuries the Champa kingdom existed as an independent entity, warring constantly with the Vietnamese to the north and the Khmer to the west. Champa endured until the 17th century when it was absorbed by Vietnam.

The ruins at My Son represent a series of constructions over a period of many centuries. The monuments bear a strong resemblance to Khmer structures found in present-day Cambodia and eastern Thailand. My Son was far enough south that it was sheltered from Chinese artistic tastes that saturated northern Vietnam. Instead, the cosmopolitan city of My Son did a brisk trade with India to the west and Java to the south. Today, the beauty of My Son would be more complete if not for widespread American bombing during the Vietnam War.

Temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Hundreds of years ago, this temple complex in the middle of the jungle was the heart of a sprawling empire. Today, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ever since its re-discovery by European explorers in the mid-19th Century, Angkor Wat’s sheer massiveness and breathtaking beauty have awed generations of tourists.

The temples were built between 1130 and 1150 AD by King Suryavarman II, and consist of an enormous temple pyramid covering an area measuring 4,250 by 5,000 feet, surrounded by a moat over 600 feet wide. Enormous doesn’t do it justice.  You only have to stand by the gates to be overwhelmed by the complex’s massive scale.

Angkor Wat is intended to symbolize the universe, as the Hindu Khmer understood it.  The moat stands for the oceans around the earth and  the concentric galleries represent the mountain ranges surrounding the divine Mount Meru, the Hindu home of the gods. The walls are covered with carvings depicting the god Vishnu, to whom Angkor was principally dedicated, as well as other scenes from Hindu mythology.

Join Shambhala Mountain Center as it takes a spiritual journey to Vietnam and Cambodia. On February 12, 2009 Susan Piver and Dana Strong will lead a once-in-a-lifetime adventure through these majestic Asian countries. The trip includes stops at the Perfume Pagoda, the Ruin a My Son and the Temples of Angkor Wat. Learn more about this amazing trip today!