My Son Sanctuary

Temples at My Son

Tuesday the 19th we start the day traveling to My Son Sanctuary. Between the 4th and 13th centuries a unique culture with spiritual origins in Indian Hinduism developed on the coast of contemporary Viet Nam. It is regarded as one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia This is illustrated by the remains of a series of impressive tower-temples located in a dramatic site that was the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom for most of its existence. After the fall of the Champa the jungle began to reclaim the temples. The temples had already fallen into disrepair by the 1960's when the Viet Cong used My Son as a base. The site is very interesting and is being restored as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The layout of the temples is according to the sun and rays of the sun; in the early morning this is visible. The early morning sunlight shines behind the head of Lord Vishnu from where it is scattered throughout.

The layout is Sanskrit scriptures are first, then the Lingham over which water flows to wash hands and feet before entry barefoot into the temples. These buildings are places of worship a sanctuary.

After our tour of the temples we had lunch in Hoi An at Miss Ly Cafe 22 a family owned restaurant run by Nathan (Miss Ly’s husband) and of course Miss Ly herself prepares all the delicious dishes in the kitchen. You can look right inside the kitchen and watch plenty of staff working. The restaurant is not a fancy restaurant, but it is a tasty street food style meal.

We got our laundry back from Ms. Gong, took it easy and wandered the streets one last time, stopping for our first non Vietnamese meal, pizza.