Saturday, 28th August

Hoi An is the Liverpool Football Club of Vietnam, clinging to the past until its fingers go blue in a way that can only be described as ‘charming’. Actually I like ‘quaint’. It’s effectively a map of little alleys and silk shops. Tons of them, all experts in whipping up a suit, dress, coat or shirt in a day at the cost of a football shirt back home. Half on one. And actually it doesn’t take a day – book a bus for three hours away and it’ll be delivered to your hotel in two. Don’t try buying shoes quickly though. Made to fit is strange for a Westerner.

After checking into another very reasonably priced hotel we hit out onto the town. There are sights to be seen aside from the endless shops. I think we are supposed to have paid to walk around the Old Town but I’ll be buggered if we could find the ticket booth. Hayley fulfilled a lifelong dream and bought herself a kimono. As she selected a fetching dragon design I stood outside and watched as a huuuuuuge dog attacked a much smaller one, in its back end. The little one screamed and whimpered. This was brutal. And then, finished, it was stuck. Stuck fast. For a long time. As the big one moved the small one yelped. I left the horror having no idea if it was ever resolved or if one dog just walked backwards for the rest of its life.

Getting hassled here is about one hundred billionth of Hanoi but the odd inhabitant manages it. As we got the classic “come to my shop” line we fobbed the woman off with tales of a long bus and desperate need for food casually throwing in a “maybe later” knowing that the Vietnamese cant tell the difference between us and the next hapless tourist. FOUR hours later she caught us. Sh*t!!! Dragged us onto her moped for some very shaky (think Hayley has an inner ear problem) driving to her shop. Inside the shop the pressure cranked until our skulls cracked. Hesitation gets a bargain though. Physically leaving the shop to talk about it an even better one.

Sunday, 29th August
Hoi An is limited by its size in what it has to offer. A trip 35km away into the jungle will remedy that. My Son (pronounced Mee Surn for all the cockneys reading this) is a Unesco Heritage site for what remains of the Cham Empire (how many blo**dy empires have there been here?). As a good friend of mine says – “this trip lays in ruins”.

The Chams were an Indian culture of the 14th century. Their children were alcoholics. Get it yet? No? Oh well. This site was built as a place of religious significance, as always set in a ridiculously beautiful surrounding which somehow looks even better when it’s overgrown. Mostly temples make up the site and are fading away after 600 years of wear and tear. And a shed load of American bombs. Anybody sensing a consistent theme here?

My biggest problem here? Can’t get a bl**dy photo without someone in it. If I want a Frenchman in my photo album I’ll go to Paris. Lots of close-ups to avoid that problem. The statues were cool and we got to learn about Cham religion – loads of crossovers onto Hinduism and Buddhism – it’s worth a trip.

Hayley went mental at me for paying a dollar for water.

In the afternoon we spotted our favourite Kiwis, Sam and Laura. Feeling naughty for purchasing 5 silk ties I found out these two spent $1,300 and subsequently felt like a d*ck. They bought ties, shirts, suits, coats and a suitcase to put it all in. They both just quit their jobs. We hit a local bar and shouted at tourists walking past in the same way the Vietnamese do. Did the Vietnamese find it funny? Not sure.

The biggest storm to date hit in the late afternoon. I am adamant lightning hit the hotel such was the loudness of the crack. Head splitting.

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 our malaria pills, and were still picking people up at 8:50. By 9:00 we were on the road to My Son and got there about 1 hour later. It was fun to see some of the people planting rice on the sides of the roads…it was so pretty and just so green.

History lesson:

My Son is a UNESCO site, I think, but it was once full of Hindu structures for the local Cham. In 1969 President Nixon allowed the US to bomb the site because of intel reporting that the Viet Cong was hiding out there. Turns out they were really hiding up in the mountains, but the site was almost completely destroyed. Now there are only about 20 structures remaining. There are still land mines littering the sides of small roads. In 1895 the French discovered My Son and in 1937 stole the heads off of most of the statues (these are now in the Louvre). Shiva statues (now with missing heads) are always carved with many arms to reflect the belief of “destroy to create”. Many of the trees were destroyed in the war and the ones growing there now were imported from Australia. The buildings that are still standing have been studied for many years because there is no mortar between the bricks and no wearing on the structures, something archeologists have been unable to recreate. In 2001 they started reconstruction but have not finished because they still cannot replicate the original design. A French theory is that they used botanical oils from trees as a paste — the clay was brought from rice fields by elephants. They say that first a wooden structure was built, with a sandstone foundation, and then the bricks were placed, burned with fire, painted with sugar and honey, and then burned again. When they rennovators tried to preserve and recreate the structures using this technique, it did not work…Each site has an altar representing either male or female. Nandi, the holy cow, carries Shiva, and there is only one left at the site.

Our guide spoke as if he were in a kung fu movie, so it was hard to concentrate. He was a good guide though, I guess, and we saw everything and kept our schedule as it was supposed to be. We took a bus to the boat and then had a small lunch of rice and veggies before stopping off at a small fisherman’s village where we were taken in to see woodcarvers before heading back to town.

When we got back we went to Rainbow Divers but decided to leave the expensive diving to Thailand and the Philippines. So this left us to peruse the myriad of tailors. I will be having two cotton dresses made (768,000 VND) and go back for the fitting tomorrow and Ronald will have a new jacket soon ($57.00).

Technical Details

* Laughing Cow cheese is everywhere in Viet Nam and I LOVE it!
* they have fresh beer every day for MUCH cheaper than the other beers, but it’s really only good in the morning to afternoon because after that it loses its fizz
* Vietnamese are nice to Americans
* My Son entrance fee: 60,000
* “My” = beautiful, “son” = mountain

(Source: TVB)

My Son Sanctuary is a large complex of religious relics that comprises more than 70 architectural works. They include temples and towers that connect to each other with complicated red brick designs. The main component of the Cham architectural design is the tower, built to reflect the divinity of the king.

According to records on the stone stele, the prime foundation of the ancient My Son architectural complex was a wooden temple to worship the Siva Bhadresvera genie. In the late 16th century, a big fire destroyed the temple.

Step by step, historical mysteries were unveiled by scientists. Through stone stele and royal dynasties, they proved My Son to be the most important Holy Land of the Cham people from the late 4th to the 15th centuries. For many centuries, the Cham built Lip, a mutually linked architectural complex, with baked bricks and sandstone. The main temple worships the Linga-Yoni, who represents the capability of invention. Beside the main tower (Kalan) are several sub-towers worshipping Genies or deceased kings.

Although time and the wars have destroyed some towers, the remaining sculptural and architectural remnants still reflect the style and history of the art of the Cham people. Their masterpieces mark a glorious time for the architecture and culture of the Cham, as well as of Southeast Asia.

Each historical period has its own identity, so that each temple worshipping a genie or a king of a different dynasty has its own architectural style full of different impression.

All of the Cham towers were built on a quadrate foundations and each comprises three parts: a solid tower base, representing the world of human beings, the mysterious and sacred tower body, representing the world of spirits, and the tower top built in the shape of a man offering flowers and fruits or of trees, birds, animals, etc., representing things that are close to the spirits and human beings.

According to many researchers of the ancient Cham towers, the architectural art of the Cham towers at My Son Sanctuary is the convergence of different styles, including the continuity of the ancient style in the 7th – 8th centuries, the Hoa Lai style of the 8th – 9th centuries, the Dong Duong style from the mid-9th century, the My Son and My Son – Binh Dinh styles, etc.

Among the remnants of many architectural sites excavated in 1898, a 24 metres high tower was found in the Thap Chua area and coded A I by archaeologists and researchers on My Son. This tower is a masterpiece of ancient Cham architecture. It has two doors, one in the east and the other in the west. The tower body is high and delicate with a system of paved pillars; six sub-towers surround the tower.

This two-storey tower looks like a lotus flower. The top of the upper layer is made of sandstone and carved with elephant and I ion designs. In the lower layer, the walls are carved with fairies and water evils and men riding elephants. Unfortunately, the tower was destroyed by US bombs in 1969.

After the My Son ancient tower complex was discovered, many of its artifacts, especially statues of female dancers and genies worshipped by the Cham people, worship animals and artifacts of the daily communal activities, were collected and displayed at the Cham Architecture Museum in Da Nang City.

Although there are not many remnants left, those that remain display the typical sculptural works of cultural value of the Cham nationality. Furthermore, they are vivid proof, confirming the history of a nationality living within the Vietnamese community boasting of a rich cultural tradition. With its great value, in December 1999, the complex of My Son has been recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We arrived at the site around 7:30 and began the trek in. First stop is the ticket booth, excercising local and foreigner prices, like most other sites in the country. Our tickets were the standard 50,000 VND, approximately $2.50 US. Following ticket purchase, you take a jeep in the first part of the way to the ruins. The driver of our old US military jeep drove along quite happily singing Ho Chi Minh propaganda songs to himself.

Once the paved road ended, it was another pleasant twenty minute walk to the ruins. There was virtually no cover, however, and we were glad that it was morning and cool. On arriving at the site, we were also glad to have come early as we had it all to ourselves. Many thanks to the Banana Split Cafe guy for advising an early morning visit.

My Son contains anywhere from 25 to 70 buildings (depending who you ask) from the ancient Cham civilization of Vietnam. The Hindu religious complex was built in stages from the 4th to the 13th century and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its example of cultural interchange as it show cases Hindu architecture in Southeast Asia in addition to be an excellent remnant of Cham culture. I’m sure anyone who has been to Angkor Wat might be disappointed with the significantly smaller display at My Son, we were somewhat surprised by the small size ourselves. However, the site is several centuries older than and is very different from the pictures I have seen of Angkor Wat, and is worth seeing in its own right.

Unfortunately, the site was heavily bombed during the war as US intelligence believed the Viet Cong were hiding among the ruins. Bombing was stopped in 1969 after strong public protest, but the impressive central temple had already been destoryed. Shell craters can still be seen around the deep red brick buildings. There is no mortar holding the bricks together and no one knows how the buildings were constructed. Some say clay was used between the bricks while others suggest a vegetable resin

Into the buildings are carved beautiful, if crumbling, pictures of Cham kings, soliders, and dancing girls, windows into a long vanished culture. The site is still being excavated from the war and the wilderness and we saw a few teams working on various sites. The jungle encroaches on the complex on all sides making for some interesting wandering off to the less central ruins. The scenery in the valley is also impressive, closed in by verdant green mountains, including the aptly named cat tooth mountain pictured at the beginning of this entry.

We spent a little over an hour wandering in solitude and departed just as the first busloads of tourists were arriving.

Duy Xuyen People’s Committee vice chairman Le Trung Hoa made the announcement on Dec. 2, as the district celebrated the tenth year since My Son was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a World Culture Heritage site.

Hoa said that over the next five years, the district will concentrate on protecting and restoring My Son relics and developing infrastructure as well as human resources to promote tourist potential, in a bid to generate more jobs, reduce hunger and erase poverty.

Representatives at the ceremony urged the district authorities to improve facilities such as internet and mobile phone coverage, which are now poor in the district, to attract more investors.

Duy Xuyen had sustained economic growth at the average annual rate of 14 percent per year for the past several years, with the service sector alone expanding on average 15 percent per year, according to Hoa. Per capita income reached around 9.5 million VND (513 USD) last year.

The Sa Huynh-Champa Culture Museum was also opened in the district on Dec. 2, displaying over 200 antiques.

The museum’s expected to help visitors become aware of the main features of Sa Huynh Culture, an outstanding civilisation of 2,000-2,500 years ago./.

My Son, located 69 km southwest of Danang, was an imperial city during the Cham dynasty, between the 4th and 12th centuries. My Son Sanctuary is a large complex of religious relics that comprises more than 70 architectural works.

They include temples and towers that connect to each other with complicated red brick designs. The main component of the Cham architectural design is the tower, built to reflect the divinity of the king.

According to records on the stone stele, the prime foundation of the ancient My Son architectural complex was a wooden temple to worship the Siva Bhadresvera genie. In the late 16th century, a big fire destroyed the temple. Step by step, historical mysteries were unveiled by scientists. Through stone stele and royal dynasties, they proved My Son to be the most important Holy Land of the Cham people from the late 4th to the 15th centuries. For many centuries, the Cham built Lip, a mutually linked architectural complex, with baked bricks and sandstone. The main temple worships the Linga-Yoni, who represents the capability of invention. Beside the main tower (Kalan) are several sub-towers worshipping Genies or deceased kings. Although time and the wars have destroyed some towers, the remaining sculptural and architectural remnants still reflect the style and history of the art of the Cham people. Their masterpieces mark a glorious time for the architecture and culture of the Cham, as well as of Southeast Asia.

Each historical period has its own identity, so that each temple worshipping a genie or a king of a different dynasty has its own architectural style full of different impression. All of the Cham towers were built on a quadrate foundations and each comprises three parts: a solid tower base, representing the world of human beings, the mysterious and sacred tower body, representing the world of spirits, and the tower top built in the shape of a man offering flowers and fruits or of trees, birds, animals, etc., representing things that are close to the spirits and human beings.

According to many researchers of the ancient Cham towers, the architectural art of the Cham towers at My Son Sanctuary is the convergence of different styles, including the continuity of the ancient style in the 7th-8th centuries, the Hoa Lai style of the 8th-9th centuries, the Dong Duong style from the mid-9th century, the My Son and My Son-Binh Dinh styles, etc. Among the remnants of many architectural sites excavated in 1898, a 24 metres high tower was found in the Thap Chua area and coded A I by archaeologists and researchers on My Son. This tower is a masterpiece of ancient Cham architecture. It has two doors, one in the east and the other in the west. The tower body is high and delicate with a system of paved pillars; six sub-towers surround the tower. This two storey tower looks like a lotus flower. The top of the upper layer is made of sandstone and carved with elephant and I ion designs. In the lower layer, the walls are carved with fairies and water evils and men riding elephants. Unfortunately, the tower was destroyed by US bombs in 1969

After the My Son ancient tower complex was discovered, many of its artifacts, especially statues of female dancers and genies worshipped by the Cham people, worship animals and artifacts of the daily communal activities, were collected and displayed at the Cham Architecture Museum in Danang city. Although there are not many remnants left, those that remain display the typical sculptural works of cultural value of the Cham nationality. Furthermore, they are vivid proof, confirming the history of a nationality living within the Vietnamese community boasting of a rich cultural tradition.

According to the Management Board for My Son Relics, Vietnam has begun coordinating with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the start of the second phrase of the project on the preservation of My Son world cultural heritage site.

The Cham ethnic minority group built My Son between the 4th and 13th centuries in a valley in Duy Phu Commune, Duy Xuyen District in the Central Province of Quang Nam.

My Son was recognized as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in December, 1999. However, because of natural and environmental effects, and numerous wars, the relics have been heavily damaged, especially the G temple complex.

The second phrase of the project will complete the restoration of the G1 temple – the most important temple in the G temple complex, and provide knowledge about the cultural heritage of the site, following international standards for archaeologists, architectures, experts in preservation and heritage site managers.

The project will also build a database for long-term preservation of the site. Total capital for second phrase will be around USD 435,000, and will come from the Lerici Foundation, along with over VND 300 million of corresponding capital from the province.

The first phrase of the project was carried out by Vietnam in coordination with UNESCO to research geography and archeological activities and makes a geographical information map for temples in My Son relic.