OK, the title relates to the temple we saw today, but I guess applies equally well to us! We had a good local meal in the hotel restaurant last night and hit the sack at at a more reasonable time (2200).
A group of fishing boats had gathered in the river near the hotel in the early morning.
After breakfast we met our guide for a one hour drive to My Son temple, in Vietnamese this is Mỹ Sơn, pronounced Mee Suhn. It means beautiful mountain. As I am suffering from information overload, details can be found here . The drive was more relaxed than Hanoi, although there are still groups of suicide scooter drivers around to make life interesting!
We arrived at My Son and walked about 600m to pick up an electric buggy to take us 2 km’s to the nearest part of the site. From there we started a 1km walk to the main ruins. Again, a selection of photos with occasional comments.
Shortly after we tarted our walk we came across a lady weaving cotton. She was selling her goods at a very low price, so Lyn finished up with a new bag!
Below are some of the ruins dating back to the 4th century. If you have read the Wikki article you may know that the temple has served both Hindu and Buddha religions over time. Due to the Hindu connection, the Indian government have been very involved in helping the Vietnamese in restoration of the site.
The picture above shows the brick construction, the lighter bricks were the original, the darker ones are new ones from the restoration. For some reason the old bricks only suffer from colour change if they have been damaged. It is as if there is some preservative coating on them.
Later we went to a short cultural show, unfortunately distance from the stage and lack of light (and an inexperienced photographer) didn’t make for good pictures.
We then headed back to the buggy station, and then to our car for a 30 minute drive to the river to pick up a boat for a short trip to a restaurant.
Above is the lunch menu, not the best picture but it can be read if you zoom. We thought we chose from the menu, but no, we were given a taste of everything on it!!
After the late lunch we went back to the hotel for some relaxation, cooling and possibly a swim. We may venture out into the night market later.
Tomorrow we have a local cooking lesson, we have to do well at it as the result is our lunch!!