Visitors passing through: Tienh An Mountain, Son My -- Site of My Lai Massacre, My Khe Beach, Danang, & Hoi An w/ Linda Pelc & Maureen Cavanagh

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Like ships passing through -- a glancing stride -- too short but how good and comforting to see good friends and how I missed them before they left. Linda and Maureen came to Quang Ngai to visit for a couple of days. They were met in Da Nang by the fearless tireless and incredibly charming Mr. Lam, one of the profs here at PDU. Mr. Lam is a swimmer and a guitar player and an English and American culture enthusiast. His English is impeccable and he generously took off an entire day and night to go to Da Nang to meet Linda and Maureen who were flying in .. he got tickets on the sleeper car and came by train with them on the 1.23 pm SE3 train...which I was sure would arrive at 4:15 according to the schedule. I was on a school visit with Mr. Viet when suddenly I got a call saying they were arriving. I didn't understand that they had already arrived and were waiting...late, as usual. mr. Viet took me by motorbike to the rail station and there they were standing waiting...It was surreal to see someone I knew standing there. Everyone was exhausted but I was happy that they had come. We finally got a taxi and dropped Mr. Lam off at his place and arrived at my humble abode, got them settled in and then we walked to Quan Ngon, my favorite restaurant. Mr. Lam and Ms. Thao joined us a little later and we had a lovely meal -- good introduction to the food here in Quang Ngai.

The next morning we went to a cafe across from Global English Center and they had breakfast while I took a taxi to school for a class. After I met them and we went by taxi to Tienh An Mountain, the pagoda, Son My Museum, and My Khe beach... a beautiful little tour of local sights. Tienh An Mountain is just over the bridge and up a small mountain there is a pagoda with an ancient well and a tomb dedicated to the founding monk and also a mausoleum of the remains of a political leader. Linda and Maureen both offered burning incense to the buddhas -- Quanyin and the laughing buddha. I felt very much at peace there. I love the grounds.

Then we drove to Son My, the site of the My Lai massacre. It was a moving experience for me again but one becomes numbed to the horror. Experiencing the tour for the second time I didn't feel the incredible sadness that I felt the first time. I didn't feel the horror that I experienced the first time. The photos are still quite shocking; the terror that the victims felt is still there to be experienced; but the impact is not so visceral. I see the faces of those young soldiers and I see the faces of the victims and I can only think that war is such a waste of human resources and an endless pit, an endless cycle that locks us in the cycles of life and death. It is surely impossible to escape the pain of this life after engaging in war...one must be trapped until one finds an exit, a way out of a path on which one incurs huge karmic debts to be met the next time around. I feel each time I see those figures of the American soldiers standing over the villagers with guns and a wild look in their eyes that they are caught in that endless cycle but I feel a great sadness for them because so many of them were there not by choice but because they were drafted to go and couldn't get out of the draft. I wondered how they wound up there. And of course the victims are just that ... victims of the war...the children innocent and many elderly who certainly couldn't defend themselves. It's a horrible scene that replays itself over and over in the minds of those of us who are old enough to remember that time in US-Vietnam history when we saw on the nightly news day after day photos of the bombings, the napalm, the victims, the soldiers shot, the helicopters, the children screaming, the terror on the faces of old men as they stared their own deaths in the face, the scenes of soldiers clad in military gear in the steamy jungle, crawling over the ground for cover with snakes and no telling what animals crawling with them, crossing the rivers with water up to their necks. All those images were not just from the movies but they were plastered all over the news at that time, a daily reminder of the human face of war, the horrors of the war and the cost on both sides.

On Thursday afternoon Linda presented on strategies for teaching reading. The presentation was well attended and well received. It is not often that PDU receives professional English Language Teacher Trainers with the educational background and experience of Dr. Pelc who has extensive experience in adult education, ESL, EFL, and teacher training. The faculty were inspired and responsive to the presentation and took our visitors to a local Beer Garden for hot pot, fish, and vodka. Afterwards we went to Moc for coffee and dessert, coconut ice cream and fresh coconut juice.

So much for Quang Ngai...the next day we took off at 5 am with a driver to see Danang and then Hoi An. Wouldn't you know it? The weather had been dry for 2 months but as soon as we left the town via Highway 1, it started raining and poured basically the entire time we toured Danang and then Hoi An. the hour we were scheduled to leave, the sun came out. Anyway...

First stop My Son Sanctuary -- Cham World Heritage Site -- it was the center of the Cham empire.

My Son was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999. y Son was recognized as a World Heritage site pursuant to the criterion C (11) as an example of evolution and change in culture, and pursuant to criterion C (III) as evidence of an Asian civilization which is not extinct.

My Son temples were dedicated to the worship of the god Shiva know by other names, including Bhadresvara. Bhadravarman I (380 to 413) warred against the Chinese occupied northern Vietnam and he buildt a hall to worship the god Shiva under the form of teh Linga and under the anme Bhadresvara, a compoud word from his own name and thesuffix 'isvara' used to refer to Shiva.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/949/gallery/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_S%C6%A1n

Today My Son is a cluster of ancient ruins -- Hindu temples (between 4th to the 14h C AD by kings of Champa (Chiem Thanh) in Vietnamese. The temples are dedicated to god Shiva who is known by many names, one of which is Bhadresvara. My Son is near the village of Duy Phu in the administrative district of Duy Xugen in Quang Nam Province which is 69 dm sw of Danang. between the 4th and 14th centuries by kinds of Champa (Chiem Thanh) in Vietnamese.

Mỹ Sơn is located near the village of Duy Phú, in the administrative district of Duy Xuyên in Quảng Nam Province in Central Vietnam, 69 km southwest of Da Nang, and approximately 10 km from the historic town of Trà Kiệu. The temples are in a valley roughly two kilometres wide that is surrounded by two mountain ranges.

I'm reading a novel set in Angkor Wat when the Cham invaded and killed the Khmers. It's fiction but I get an idea of the Cham. I'm intrigued to find out more. According to wikipedia, from the 4th to the 14th c. AD the valley at My Son was a site of religious ceremony for kings of the ruling dynasties of Champa well as a burial place for Cham royalty. At one time there were over 70 temples. It's regarded as one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is the most important heritage site of this kind in Vietnam, often compared with Borobudur of Java in Indonesia, Angkor Wat of Cambodia, Bagan of Myanmar and Ayutthaya of Thailand.

Most of the temples were made of red brick but the construction techniques are not clear. How were the bricks fired? there is evidence that the mortar between the bricks was also subjected to high temperatures which would suggest that the entire structure once built was fired to harden the bricks. But the structure does not show any scarring from large intense fires. One theory to explain how the bricks were stuck together is that the builders glued the bricks together using tree resin or that they used a sticky mortar from the same class as he bricks and tests have shown that there was no additional organic matter between the bricks but they found mineral substances similar to minerals in the core of the bricks.

Danang

Pagoda Chua Linh Ung: http://travel.zizi.vn/thong-tin-du-lich/93/chua-linh-ung-da-nang/thong-tin

This newest temple Linh Ung Bai But is the largest and most people say the most beautiful of 3 temples in this region. The statue of Avalokitsevara they say is the tallest in Southeast Asia at 67 meters high. She stands on a lotus throne that is 35 meters in diameter -- a most impressive figure, strong but calming. Quan Yin is in the standing pose on a lotus and leans again the Son Tra Mountain, overlooking the sea. She holds a bottle. She blesses the gentle sea, the source of human life. In her majesty she brings the fisherman solace and reassurance. We did not go up but I understand that there are 17 floors inside this Buddha and on each floor there are 21 statues of Buddha. There is a beautiful view of the harbor from the top of the statue. Outside, 18 Arhat line the courtyard. Each is supposed to be teh manifestation of 'joy, anger, love, stand, etc.' of human beings.

Hoi An

"Peaceful Meeting Place" known historically in English and other European languages as Faifo. An ancient town about 40 kilometers from DaNang. It was a silk trading port between the 15th and 19th centuries. From Wikipedia: Hoi An "possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lâm Ấp Phố (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth. The former harbour town of the Cham at the estuary of the Thu Bồn River was an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled. During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the "Japanese Bridge" (16th-17th century). The bridge (Chùa cầu) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist temple attached to one side"
We arrived in Hoi An in the afternoon, hoping that the weather would clear up. It poured rain as we settled into our room -- here we were in this magnificent 5-star hotel with a swimming pool and it was raining cats and dogs. We finally decided to brave the rain and started walking up and down the streets of the old city. When we walked down to the river, we saw that It had risen to the edge...someone told maureen that sometimes it floods all the way up to what is a blue line that runs along many of the buildings on the small city streets. The streets were full of tourists, restaurants buzzing with dinner guests, and we began to ask for directions to Mango Mango, the restaurant that one of the hotel staff recommended. We crossed the bridge filled with vendors hawking their wares, including candles in colored boxes that people buy and release into the river with a wish, vendors of fruits and fans and all sorts of small trinkets and tokens as well as snacks. luckily the rain had slacked off as we asked passersby for directions to MangoMango and then voila, there it was on the corner with a clear view of the bridge and the many lantern lights that line the river. Beautifully scenic view. And the food was delicious! Every dish had something special with mango -- the grilled tuna that I had was scrumptious! And best of all we had a couple drinks, even some tequila!

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