Hoi An and the My Son temple complex

A lie in till quarter past seven this morning, and this is supposed to be a holiday !! and we’re up to take a guided tour (along with a mixed group of 50 other tourists) to the temples of My Son which were used in the Vietnamese war as a Vietcong hq for the fight against the Americans. The Americans bombed this place heavily during the war and today not much is standing, also the French had previously ransacked the place of all its treasures including all the heads of the statues, some of which we saw when we visited the Louvre back in January. Anyway enough waffle here’s some photos.



Our guide said his name was Michael Jackson (though when pressed he admitted his real name was Dung) and that he could dance like him although it's not difficult to dance like a dead person is it ? Whilst waiting in the gift shop after our My Son tour we spot this “souvenir”, those of you who came to visit us in France would recognise this place though why it’s here is anyone’s guess.

 Joining one of these tours is always a painful experience for us as we are more used to independent travel, a lot of time is spent faffing around waiting and time is therefore reduced doing the important stuff, however sometimes for ease of life you just have to go with it and this was one of those times. We have the option to take the boat back to town which we take and en route we stop off in a carpentry village where the locals make boats and do a lot of intricate carving stuff.

Back in the old trading port of Hoi An and sometimes its really hard to get your head round the fact that you are in Vietnam, the vast array of bars and restaurants with every possible type of food available even here. Just to remind you while your sitting having your cheeseburger on the waterfront you could be anywhere in the world, thats warm, a woman passes by with pointy hat and yolks, so typically Vietnam.

A stroll round town to the Japanese covered bridge

 And to the market

 And passed old French colonial buildings.

and Chinese temples

 

Catching the train to the imperial city of Hue tomorrow Sunday 22nd and it’s election day so lets hope that goes without incident.