Vietnam 77%

The Temple of Fragrance                                                                                                        By Hồ Xuân Hương (1772 - 1822)   Who could have fashioned this marvel? The mountain cracks into a wide, hollow cave. Pious Buddhists struggle to set foot inside,  others gaze at it tirelessly. Drippings form a sweet streamlet, as sailors on incoming junks bend their heads. City folk also flock to these springs and woods. Clever, indeed, the Old Man in Heaven!   Enter with us the Temple of Fragrance: a marvel fashioned not by those who dwell on earth, but by the ancient ‘Old Man in Heaven’ . . . Or so it is written in the verse of Hồ Xuân Hương, whose name itself, across its translation, whispers of the ‘scent of spring-time.’ A cultural icon of Vietnam, Hồ possessed an exquisite cleverness at poetry, lauded for her brilliance, but more—she was mischievous, irreverent, and often risqué, a soul so daring, so wise, so saucy-voiced that she was granted the title, ‘