1.15.2007
Hoi An: My Son.
So what is there to do in Hoi An besides stroll around the town for about two hours to take in pretty much every site and then get a few shoddily constructed suits or dresses or shoes made? Go see My Son, of course. My who now? My Son, which--for those of you who don't keep up on such thing, and you know who you are!--is the name given to the remnents of the Hindu temple complex in Central Vietnam that served as the center of the ancient Champa empire. Duh. (Those of who are only pretending to know what I'm talking about--again, you know who you are!--can catch up on Wikipedia.)
Anyway, being the dutiful tourists we are, we went to the tour desk of our formaldehyde-smelling hotel and signed up for a dawn tour of My Son, which kicked off at 5 AM. I'm guessing that during certain times of the year this means you can catch the sunrise, which would be pretty spectacular. However, late June is, apparently, not one of those months, so all our 5 AM wake-up call got us a temperature in the 80s instead of the 90s. Which, now that I think about it, pretty much made it worth it. But whatever.
We were pretty excited to see My Son, because the Champa empire was alive and kicking at the same time as the Khmer Empire in Cambodia--and fighting each other, for the record--and since the Khmers managed to knock out the Angkor Temples (pictures!) in their spare time, I had high expectations for My Son. Which, sadly, were not met. Possibly because the US bombed the shit out the temples during Vietnam since the VC were apparently hiding weapons in them, so what can you do? Despite that, however, I'm not sure they would ever really measure up to Angkor Wat. This was actually the first place where I started thinking about the downside of traveling and seeing so much in such a short time. I mean, after going to Hoi An, driving an hour to get to My Son, then walking another twenty minutes to get to the ruins themselves, I looked at them for about five seconds, turned to Holly, and said, "Well, it's no Angkor Wat, is it?" And what did she reply? "I was just thinking the same thing."
Don't you feel sorry for us? I thought so. At any rate, here are some pictures of My Son, which, despite not being Angkor Wat, is still a UNESCO World Heritage site and pretty cool. So if you're kicking it in Hoi An and have some time to kill, you should definitely go see it. For now, however, you can just look at these pictures:
These next pictures are statues of Hindu religious symbols. How do I know? Because it's a Hindu temple complex. Duh.
Coming next, even more from Hoi An! Although I think that will be the last of it. From there, it's on to Saigon, with M-16s, Mekong Delta plantations, and more!
Previously, on my vacation:
- Hoi An: the People.
- Hoi An: the Streets.
- Hue: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hue: the River.
- Hue: the Imperial Tombs.
- Hue: the Imperial Palace.
- Hue: the Streets.
- Halong Bay: the Videos.
- Halong Bay.
- Hanoi: the Random.
- Hanoi: Water Puppets.
- Hanoi: the "Hilton." '
- Hanoi: the People.
- Hanoi: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hanoi: the Streets.
********
Anyway, being the dutiful tourists we are, we went to the tour desk of our formaldehyde-smelling hotel and signed up for a dawn tour of My Son, which kicked off at 5 AM. I'm guessing that during certain times of the year this means you can catch the sunrise, which would be pretty spectacular. However, late June is, apparently, not one of those months, so all our 5 AM wake-up call got us a temperature in the 80s instead of the 90s. Which, now that I think about it, pretty much made it worth it. But whatever.
We were pretty excited to see My Son, because the Champa empire was alive and kicking at the same time as the Khmer Empire in Cambodia--and fighting each other, for the record--and since the Khmers managed to knock out the Angkor Temples (pictures!) in their spare time, I had high expectations for My Son. Which, sadly, were not met. Possibly because the US bombed the shit out the temples during Vietnam since the VC were apparently hiding weapons in them, so what can you do? Despite that, however, I'm not sure they would ever really measure up to Angkor Wat. This was actually the first place where I started thinking about the downside of traveling and seeing so much in such a short time. I mean, after going to Hoi An, driving an hour to get to My Son, then walking another twenty minutes to get to the ruins themselves, I looked at them for about five seconds, turned to Holly, and said, "Well, it's no Angkor Wat, is it?" And what did she reply? "I was just thinking the same thing."
Don't you feel sorry for us? I thought so. At any rate, here are some pictures of My Son, which, despite not being Angkor Wat, is still a UNESCO World Heritage site and pretty cool. So if you're kicking it in Hoi An and have some time to kill, you should definitely go see it. For now, however, you can just look at these pictures:
These next pictures are statues of Hindu religious symbols. How do I know? Because it's a Hindu temple complex. Duh.
Coming next, even more from Hoi An! Although I think that will be the last of it. From there, it's on to Saigon, with M-16s, Mekong Delta plantations, and more!
Previously, on my vacation:
- Hoi An: the People.
- Hoi An: the Streets.
- Hue: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hue: the River.
- Hue: the Imperial Tombs.
- Hue: the Imperial Palace.
- Hue: the Streets.
- Halong Bay: the Videos.
- Halong Bay.
- Hanoi: the Random.
- Hanoi: Water Puppets.
- Hanoi: the "Hilton." '
- Hanoi: the People.
- Hanoi: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hanoi: the Streets.
********
