Vietnam 5 *Hoi An* 20th June

The view from my sleeper bus getting into Hoi An. Magnificent!

I was super lucky to be in Hoi An for their monthly lantern festival. It was a gorgeous sight, but hard to capture in a photo..

I also went on a tour to MY SON SANCTUARY – a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu Temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of Champa. The temples are dedicated to the worship of the god Shiva. The Mỹ Sơn temple complex is regarded one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is the foremost heritage site of this nature in Vietnam. Mỹ Sơn is perhaps the longest inhabited archaeological site in Indochina, but a large majority of its architecture was destroyed by US carpet bombing during a single week of the Vietnam war. Despite having visited Angkor Wat, I still can’t seem to get enough of the atmosphere of these temples. I particularly loved the green surroundings and earthly tones of the temple bricks within MY SON.

We were greeted with a welcome dance.

I decided to catch a boat back from MY SON rather than return by bus.

Last place to eat lunch returning from the tour.

And my accommodation in Hoi An. Simple, clean and cheap. One night, I ended up staying up late drinking beer with the night watchman. His life is very tough, but he’s a really good guy. I learnt a lot about Vietnamese men lifestyle.

After insisting I get in the photo, these ladies were quite pushy about me buying their fruit, which I was quite happy to do! Yum! I later shared it with the night watchman as we drank our beer.