On our second morning in Hoi An, we traveled to the My Son Sanctuary, about an hour outside of town. This UNESCO World Heritage site features the ruins of ancient Hindu temples built by the Champa civilization between the 4th and 13th centuries. Rediscovered beneath the jungle by the French in 1898, the site suffered damage during the Vietnam War. Restoration work has uncovered many of the temples, but much is still in ruins.
The Hindu tower temples of the My Son Sanctuary are located within a well-protected property with clearly defined boundaries. Eight groups of 71 standing monuments exist as well as extensive buried archaeology representing the complete historic sequence of construction of tower temples at the site, covering the entire period of the existence of the Champa Kingdom. The monuments are unique and without equal in Southeast Asia according to the UNESCO website. On the way there, we enjoyed seeing glimpses of rice fields, fruit stands and daily life. I am always amazed to see how many people or stuff can be carried on a scooter. We even saw a motorcycle pulling a cart with two cows in it!
My Son means beautiful mountains, and describes the valley these temples were built in. Historians believe the site was chosen due to the shape of the mountains and access to spring water flowing through the valley. The temples were dedicated to the worship of the Hindu god Shiva, the destroyer and transformer. Sophie and I always find Hindu architecture and sculpture a bit strange. This was no exception.
One interesting feature in the temples were huge stone altars that were kind of like sinks with a basin for water that flowed out a spout at one end. These altars were taller than me, and I really wonder what kind of ceremonies were performed there. Most of the statues, sculptures and carvings had been moved to museums, but there were still a few that remained. [Editior’s note: later in Cambodia we discovered these “altars” were called Lingas and were an abstract, complex representation of the Hindu god Shiva, and a symbol of Shiva’s creative energy and potential.]
Some of the temples were still partially covered in jungle, and you could really visualize what it may have been like to discover this complex back in the day. It was likely very hard to recognize under all the vines and vegetation.
In the afternoon, we joined a cooking class / round bamboo boat tour. We started by going to a local food market to pick up supplies for our class. Our instructor helped us get to know the many different herbs, fruits, vegetables and mushrooms we didn’t recognize.
Next we got to experience a boat ride in traditional round bamboo boats down a water coconut palm lined river. These were the same boats we had seen in Lang Co Bay, used there to gather the pearl oysters. This was a very popular touristy thing to do, but it was fun none-the-less, and a way to support the locals.
A very experienced Vietnamese lady expertly paddled our boat up and down, navigating around other boats and down little side channels. She even stopped to show us how she catches crabs along the banks beneath the roots of the water coconut palms. Unfortunately, the crab she caught got loose and ended up hiding somewhere under our feet in the boat. Luckily we didn’t get bit. 😉 We also got a demonstration on net throwing by a local fisherman. Sophie really enjoyed riding in these colorful round boats.
Our cooking class took place in an open kitchen, it was fun and our chef was very knowledgeable. We were with a large Australian family, an older English couple and a young couple from Denmark. We learned to make green papaya salad, deep fried spring rolls, Banh Xeo (a rice pancake we ate in Saigon) and braised chicken in a clay pot.
The salad and spring rolls were served with a delicious sweet and sour fish sauce mixture that we also learned to prepare. We found its base, Vietnamese fish sauce, to be much better tasting for our palates than Thai fish sauce – it was milder, well balanced and without a strong fishy smell. It is called Nuoc Mam and it is an essential condiment in Vietnamese cuisine. At the end of the cooking class, we got to eat everything we cooked, along with some rice and stir-fried morning glory (a common green string vegetable in South East Asia, also called water spinach). Everything tasted great and we were quite pleased with our cooking accomplishments!
We really enjoyed the Hoi An area, and wish we would have budgeted a couple more days there. Maybe we will be back one day. The next morning we headed back to the Da Nang airport for a flight to our next destination, the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc.
Leave a Reply