Final Day: Hoi An

Today started early. We had booked a trip to My Son, a group of Hindu temples built by the Champa as early as 200 AD. The bus departed at 8:30 am, but luckily like everything else at our hotel it picked us up at the door. A 2 hour bus ride west took us through city streets, then rice fields, intermittent small towns, then finally lush jungles. Our tour bus was led by an English speaking tour guide, but in a bus of around 30 English speaking travelers no one conversed with people they didn’t know.

Our bus dropped us off at the entrance to My Son. We transferred to a smaller safari style car that drove us up the hill to the ancient ruins. The jungle was enveloped by towering green mountains. The ruins were in various states of disrepair due to the French taking the heads off of the statues in the 1950s (they now sit in the Louvre) and US Bombings of a Viet Cong strong hold during the 1960s.

Our tour guide was quite a character. His deep voice seemed like an imitation of a radio host, he constantly and clearly repeated detailed instructions so there were no question. He sprinkled in jokes about what would happen to us if we got off the path, the phallic shapes of the Hindu statues and that if we got on the wrong bus, it would take us to North Korea.

A couple of things we learned:
- Concrete is a poor form of mortar. Tree sap is better but Vietnamese archaeologists are still unsure how the ancient temple bricks were molded together.
- During French colonization, the heads of religious symbols were frequently removed. To this day, they have not been returned.
- My Son is pronounced, me son, and means beautiful mountain. The ruins are older than Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

We spent our night restaurant hoping and then bar hoping. Surprisingly good nachos and tacos can be found at Hola Taco. This was also the first place Jaimie found sour cream on a menu. We also enjoyed our first Pho in Vietnam at Pho Xua. There we ordered a Lemon Juice, aka lemonade. Upon being serenaded by the sounds of mediocre live music, we accidentally attempted to crash a 2 year old’s karaoke birthday party. Later, we indulged in roof top drinks at “The Chef” and a couple of fruity cocktails at Mango Mango. All in all, nice last night in Hoi An.

Best Meal: Pho (Pho Xua)
Coolest site: Ruins of My Son