Something Old, Something New
Hoi An, Vietnam
May 03, 2009
Bill was awake and sneezing at 2:30 and stayed up until 5:00 watching TV.
We woke up at 6:20 and had a wonderful shower, followed by an amazing buffet. Funny what a bit of money can do! I had some rye bread with lime, pineapple, mango and mandarin marmalade. They were all good! I had an omelette with peppers, ham, mushrooms, olives and tomatoes, some potatoes, grilled mushrooms, sausage and grilled tomatoes. I had a small scoop of all bran with dried apricots (red, yellow and green), raisins and dates, plus a slice of mango and sapodilla (pear and honey flavour). Wow, sounds like I ate a lot... Bill had cheese and salami, watermelon, a rye bun and an omelette with peppers, cheese and chives.
There is also lots of juice, fruit, cereals, yoghurt, pho, fried rice, crepes and noodle stir fry.
We were waiting for our tour pickup at 7:30 to My Son (sounds like Me Sun). Our tour is $7 for bus, boat and lunch. It was close to 8:00 when two motorbikes picked us up and took us to the tour office. We boarded a bus at 8:30 and it took over an hour to get to the site (50 kms away). We saw brown rivers, more harvesting, egrets, mountains, corn, cows, water buffalo, towns, markets, graveyards, water lilies, ducks, chickens, drying tobacco, drying corn and drying rice on the road (we drove over a lot). We arrived and then we had to wait in the souvenir shop while our guide bought our tickets for 120,000.
My Son was a Religious center only, not a city, from the 4th to the 13th centuries for the Chamba people. Much of the Religious influence was from Chava, Indonesia, so there are a lot of Hindu gods. Today the Chamba people are 1 of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. The temples were rediscovered in 1885. There are 20 temples that are in good shape, the other 5 were destroyed during the American War, WWII and by natural disasters.
We had to walk over a bridge in the rain and then were driven a few kms by Jeep and van to a pavilion. Our guide, Thatch (Tat) gave us a brief explanation and then walked with us to Sites B, C and D, these are in the best shape. He explained that Linga and Yoni are like Yin and Yang, Male and Female. The temples are dedicated to Shiva (many arms, King of Dancers), Brama and Vishnu. We will have 2 hours to explore all the temples.
Thatch also explained that the temples were constructed with bricks. These bricks were placed together tightly with little mortal. These bricks have stayed together better than some of the reconstruction brick work from 15 years ago. The brick technique is similar to what we saw in Bagan.
He also explained the story of Ganesh, the one that looks like an elephant. The legend is that Shiva was away for a long time in battle. During that time his wife bore him a son. When he returned many years later and saw his son, he thought that his wife was having an affair with this man and chopped off his head. When Shiva found out that it was his son, he began to search for a new head for his son, he only came across an elephant, so he cut of his head and placed it on his son's body.
The grounds have 3 sections - a main temple, a waiting house and another place where holy water was collected. The holy water was poured into the linga and yoni to symbolize creation.
At B, C and D we saw some carvings on the buildings of deities, decorated columns, elephants over a doorway and some linga and yoni. Two galleries had a collection of sculptures form the site: lingas, Nandi, an elephant, a lion, Shiva, Brama, an elephant/lion, and a female figure.
Site A is mostly destroyed. There were a few lingas, some carvings of deities and flowers lying on the ground.
Sites G and H are undergoing renovations and were off-limits.
Sites E and F are badly damaged. There was a headless female sculpture and a Nandi.
We walked along a tree lined path back to the meeting spot. There were lots of butterflies flitting by and the cicadas were making a lot of noise.
We boarded the bus at 11:45 and headed back to Hoi An. At 12:25 we were dropped off at the river and we boarded a boat. On the boat we were served rice with veggies and tofu. Bill had Larue Beer and I had a Khong Do O* iced tea without sugar. We were also provided with bananas and water. One other boat departed at the same time as us, but again we are in the slowest boat.
There was not much to see along the river, some fishing and some villages. We did see some birds. They had green backs and wings with copper underbellies.
We stopped at an island village, Kim Bong, where they do wood carvings and mother of pearl. We "toured" the town which meant that we were taken in and out of several shops. This village is 1/17 that makes up Hoi An and is the only island. We did not purchase anything.
When we returned to town we continued with our tour. We went to the cultural center and listened to and watched musicians, singers and dancers. It lasted 15-20 min and was pretty good. They ended with their version of Auld Lang Syne. We checked out the workshop where they were making and selling lanterns, pottery and needle point.
We went to Quan Cong Temple dating from 1653. The temple is named for a general and is the symbol for loyalty, sincerity, integrity and justice. The temple contains poems composed by Duke Nguyen Nghiem and North Vietnamese soldiers from their visit in 1775.
There was a tiny museum behind the temple with a bit of history and had a unicorn that looks like a lion.
We checked out Thu Thuy silk shop on Le Loi, but they were extremely pushy, so we left. We stopped at Yaly and they have very nice things, it is more expensive, but they have some beautiful embroidery.
We went to an ATM and withdrew 2,000,000 (dong, not dollars) each. We are rich!
At Khu Am Thuc - Place of Eating and Drinking we had a drink and something to eat. They have 10 banquet tables set up and each table has a chef and a waitress. Our chef was Ms Lien. We had really good fresh pork rolls, 2 Tiger Beers and a Coke Light. Our waitress has been living in Hoi An for 5 months and she has 1 child. Her family lives 50 km away.
I went back to 57 Le Loi and starting selecting some styles and fabrics. I selected a green silk for a Chinese style top (with embroidery) for $20, a blazer in wine coloured silk with black trim for $30, a winter coat in brown and gray plaid for $40 and beige linen shorts for $11. Bill selected a blue and white, a blue and yellow and a white for 3 dress shirts $15 each. We ended up with a slight discount, the total came to $142 USD.
We searched at several small stores for soy milk, but could not find it. We did find 10 bracelets for 110,000 dong though!
We took a dip in our beautiful, serene pool. I had a vodka with soda and Bill had a mango daiquiri (very manly). I have decided that I could live at Life Resort!!
As part of our package we are able to have a set Western or Eastern menu at Senses Restaurant at our hotel. We ordered one of each. To start we were given fresh bread with basil infused olive oil. It was incredibly good.
The Western menu had Bay Shrimp Canapes (VG) - poached with cocktail sauce and dill, Cream of Tomato Soup (VG) with basil and garlic croutons, Roasted Leg of Chicken (VG) with mashed potatoes, stuffed tomato and red wine sauce, finished off with Carrot Cake with raisins, nuts and coconut (VG, very moist, tasted like it did not have a batter and was not cooked?). The Vietnamese menu was Crispy Hue Spring Rolls (VG) - rice pancake with minced pork, shrimp, elephant ear mushroom, vermicelli and taro, Bu Ngot Leaves Soup with minced meat, spring onion and shallots, Sweet and Sour Fish (breaded mackerel, pineapple, chilli, onion, green pepper, garlic, tomato sauce with Steamed Perfumed Rice (VG), Fried Spinach with garlic (VG). Bill did not like the dessert selection and requested vanilla ice cream. The homemade ice cream came with fresh mint leaves. It was a big hit with Bill.
We also had a melon sorbet to cleanse our palate after the soup.
Bill had a gin and tonic and I had a vodka and soda to start then we ordered glasses of wine. The special offer was Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc (gooseberries, citrus and exotic melons) and Cabernet Merlot (cherry, raspberry and cassis) Villa Maria from New Zealand. The wine was excellent!
We were seated on the upper balcony overlooking the Thu Bon River. The music in the restaurant was very nice and we were serenaded by frogs. It was a lovely evening!