Day 231 - Walking back into the era of the Champas

Last night we had decided to book ourselves on a tour to the famous ruins of the ancient kingdom of Champa at My Son, with a boat ride back to town, and hoped that we would wake up to clear skies! Unfortunately, the rain was even heavier this morning, so we put on our rain jackets, and set off for another day in the rain. My Son is set amongst amazingly lush green mountains in Duy Phu village, and unfortunately over their hundreds of years of existence (some dating back as far as the 4th Century), the beautiful brick structures, just bricks piled upon bricks without the use of mortar, have seen better days. Just as nature bends an old man forward and greys his hair, nature has crumbled the temples and covered them in green. Add to that the devastation of the American bombing that left gaping craters in the ground when they missed the temples themselves, and you have the ruins at My Son - a stunning sight, as much as a sad reminder of the war.
We spent almost a couple of hours wandering the ruins, going in and out of the temple structures, wondering what the beautiful writing on the stone slabs meant, and imagining the beauty of the of what used to have been mighty towers but now remains partly carpeted by the jungle.

One reoccurring theme throughout the temples, is the presence of linga and yoni structures - the linga represents the male sexual organs and the yoni the female. These structures represented the Hindu god Shiva and had important spiritual value to the Cham people.

As the rain became heavier we arrived for our boat ride back to Hoi An - we considered staying on the bus instead, but figuring we were already wet, and that as we had paid extra, we might as well hop on and see the villages that were part of the deal (and the only reason we'd paid the extra cash in the first place). About half way through the ride our guide suggested that since it was raining that we might skip the visit to the villages. Adam gave a loud "NO!" that fell upon deaf ears as most of the 30 members on our boat wanted to go straight back, and we soon motored home.
We literally wandered down the river front, down a bustling market, and made our way home through a deserted town centre absolutely soaked all the way through! Where's the sun we came to Vietnam for?!

So another evening of sheltering from the rain began. We did run across the street for some local specialties and beer, as well as organising our onward trip for tomorrow night to Nha Trang beach - let's hope it's sunny down south!

Adlibing the ancient ruins in the rain.