Nga, An Ngoc and I did this trip with my 33 year old son, John, and his wife 26 year old wife, Lixia. Because Nga and I went to Hue and Hoi An last year, there wasn't much new for us to see in these two places. So I was keen to see the Cham Hindu temple ruins at Mỹ Sơn.
We booked a tour through our hotel. A rickety, rattly, worn out wreck from Phu An Bus Company took us one hour or more to My Son site, where the guide let us know that the forecast temperature would be 38 degrees C. Fortunately a breeze was blowing during the whole inspection.
There was not a lot to see at the ruins, as the USAF has successfully bombed it back to the stone age.
 |
| linga |
 |
| Yoni |
 |
| Hindu linga with Buddhist lotus base |
There were several lingas and yonis, which were worshiped as representations of Hindu gods of creation, many Greeco-Romanesque stone columns laying about, and a few salvaged figurines in a partially repaired ruin. Most of the statues and figurines are on exhibition at the Cham Museum in Danang.
 |
| Cham script |
 |
| Hindu god Vishnu ? |
 |
| Elephant figure |
Only one building was being restored and French archeological team were digging out one hill. Our guide was entertaining and had a good vocabulary of archeological terms, but completely missed explaining what a yoni and its significance was. I tried to imagine what it would have been like during festivals when the temple was in use. How many people could fit in here? What would they be doing? Where had they come from? How far had them travelled?
In the heat I drank one litre of water in two hours, drank two cans of beer on the pleasant boat trip back to Hoi An. I chose to walk the final one km back to the hotel while Nga and An went by cycle. Bad move ! I got the spins along the way and arrived at the hotel exhausted, and then slept for two and a half hours. I woke, ate, and slept for another 11-1/2 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment