My Son Holy Temples

I awoke to a glorious clear 29°C with 80% humidity! A perfect day to go to the My Son Holy Land or so I thought. A really interesting place, but with no cover it was a little too hot (35°C) and exposed.

On the way, many properties lining the road had rice and corn laid out to dry in the sweltering heat of the day.

My Son (pronounced "me-sun") is a collection of Hindu temples built by the Champa people and is dated between 200AD and 1700AD. It is set in the in a lush jungle valley, overlooked by Cat’s Tooth Mountain (Hon Quap). The temples are in poor shape – only about 20 structures survive where at least 68 once stood – but the intimate nature of the site, surrounded by gurgling stream, is still sweet provided you look past the other stuff.

After the fall of the Champa the jungle began to reclaim the temples. The temples had already fallen into disrepair by the 1960's when the Viet Cong used My Son as a base - the Vietnamese are not Cham and didn't have much respect or interest in their culture & heritage. As a result, My Son was a target for American bombers during the Vietnam war - mainly bomb crater can still be seen today.

Although a UNESCO site, you get the distinct impression that all the guides and workers there are after is your tourist $. Trying to amp up sympathy at the US bombings, and continually likening the site to Angkor Wat ("but built over 200 years earlier") and similar Champa temples, the ruins are in no way as impressive as those in Cambodia, not only due to the small scale, damage but the attitude of the locals - trying to restore the temples has in my opinion removed the beauty of what is there. But I guess they are trying to make sure there is something pressure for tourists to pay for (besides some ruins and a walk in the jungle).

Lunch on the boat trip after was mediocre - sticky rice with a small portion of tofu, carrot, green beans and cabbage on top. As I had lunch in Hoi An arranged for when I got off the boat, I tasted a little so as not to be rude but wasn't really keen on eating much.

Overall the guide was ok. He was a bit arrogant, obnoxious and clearly liked to hear himself talk! It would have been nicer to see inside the My Son Museum (where reseat tells me all the special artefacts from the temples were placed) but that didn't even appear to be on his radar.

After returning to Hoi An later than expected - 3pm - due to an unexpected stop at the guides village to try and persuade us to buy more locally made things; I had lunch in Vinh Hung Restaurant. Owned by the hotel I stayed in, the lunch was delicious! Cal lâu noodles, white rose and fried wanton so (all Hoi An specialities) were to die for!!

After another visit to the tailor, I headed back for a swim and chilled before bed.