Blogs from My Son, Quảng Nam, South Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia

I was picked up from my hotel by a mini bus and we headed west of the city for about an hour. I had only seen things on the internet about Mỹ Sơn, but didn’t realize how spectacular it would be. It reminded me of photos I’d seen of Cambodia, where I want to go one day. The big shame was that the American’s bombed the ancient buildings during the Vietnam war, as the Viet Cong used this area for their operations. Some areas still have unexploded ordinance. The heads of the statues are missing, as they were taken by the French and are now located in the Louvre in Paris. Afterwards we took a boat ride on the river back to Hoi An. I did some more wandering around the town before heading ... read more

My Son is, for some, Vietnam's answer to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. For us it was merely a taste of what awaits us in a few weeks' time. It is possible to get up at 5am, hire a private driver and get there before the tourist hoardes arrive. 5am starts are not for us if they can be avoided, so we took a tour. 8am starts are still pretty tough but at least they are palatable. We had arrived in Hoi An the previous day and you can read all about it in the next blog. After breakfast we made our way over the bridge and sat outside the Banana Split cafe who had organised our excursion. The traffic was a nightmare. Apparently it was a "special" day in the lunar calendar and there were weddings ... read more

During our time in Hoi An as well as exploring the sites around Hoi An itself we took several day trips. First to the Holy City of My Son. The ancient Cham city of My Son is another Unesco world heritage site is tne of the most stunning sites in the area. The ruins are nestled in a lush valley surrounded by hills and the massive Hon Quap (Cat’s tooth mountain.) My Son became a religious centre in the late fourth century and was occupied until the 13th Century. The longest period of development of any city in the Mekong region. The ruins are about 35 kilometres from Hoi An. The ruins were interesting but I guess we’ve been spoilt as they pale into insignificance after the Angkor Wat ruins in Cambodia that we visited ... read more

A man knocked on our door at 7:55 and told us to hurry! So we were surprised and went downstairs and he took us on his motorbike to the place where the bus was going to pick us up at. He told us to have a seat at the restaurant there (the Candle I think...) and about 1 minute later told us no no! The bus is coming! It wasn't. But the woman in charge ran us out two baguettes to go and after waiting a little while longer, stole them back to hurry and add jelly and butter and a water bottle and some minibananas for dessert. The plain baguettes were free, but when she added the other stuff, we ended up paying her. She was really sweet. Anyways, the bus came, we dutifully took ... read more

Heute wollte ich mir die Cham-Ruinen in My Son ansehen. Die Cham hatten in früheren Zeiten ein bedeutendes hinduistisches Reich (Champa) in der südlichen Hälfte des heutigen Vietnams aufgebaut. Im Laufe der Jahrhunderte wurde dieses von den nach Süden vordrängenden Vietnamesen erobert. Heute bilden die Cham eine der zahleichen ethnischen Minderheiten Vietnams. Von ihrem einstigen Reich sind nur noch Ruinen übrig geblieben, darunter jene zum Weltkulturerbe erklärten Ruinen von My Son. Von der Tour in Hue war ich mit gemischten Gefühlen zurückgekehrt. Nicht, dass diese besonders schlecht war, aber es liegt mir einfach nicht, die ganze Zeit hinter einem Guide herzutrappeln. Ich möchte mir lieber das ansehen, was ich möchte und zwar in der Zeit, die ich brauche. Also entschloss ich mich, mir ein Xe Om, wie die Motorradtaxis hier genannt werden mit Fahrer für den ... read more