This was a beautiful experience - and I was lucky again because the day was clear and comfortable. Winter is the off-season and the best time to go if you want to avoid crowds of tourists. Getting to the Pagoda is as interesting as arriving there. The trip starts with a float down the river in a rowboat paddled by a solitary woman. Then a cable car ride takes you to the top of the mountain where there is a short hike up to the temples inside and outside of the cave. There are 35 monks living up here looking after everything, a couple of them actually live in the cave itself. This is a major pilgrimage site, not simply a tourist attraction. After wandering around the cave, you can opt to hike back down the mountain, which I did. It was a well-trodden path, lush and beautiful even in the winter. I saw a lonely little monkey along the way down.
