MỸ SƠN

Information about MỸ SƠN:



In Duy Phu village, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, at My Son valley, there is still

a most important complex of Hindu temple-towers which is a symbol of the Champa art

and continuously developed from the 4th century to the 13th century.



The ancient Champa people were raised to be "the masters of art in building brick." So far

the technique in building the ancient temple-towers of Champa people remains controversial.

The bricks were smoothed and laid closely and securely without mortar. My Son's value is also

reflected in the art of lively and fine sculpture and carving on brick, stone from the images of

deities, priests, dances, plants, animals and sacrifices...



Because of its prominent value as an example of cultural exchange andintegration of external

cultures, especially the art and architecture of hinduism with the native culture, combined

with lively reflection of the Champa kingdom in south east asia cultural history, in December

1999, UNESCO listed My Son a world cultural heritage.















Go to MỸ SƠN from HỘI AN by xe ôm. I know that "ôm" means hug, but no way was I going

to hug this guy!











Welcome to My Son! After a very long ride in the cold rain, it is good to finally be here...











Oh wait, still 1km to go until we get there?? Luckily we got a ride in an old army jeep.







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Notice how the sky is perfectly white, like the webpage background!





















I was bad, so I got sent to My Son jail...





















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Even if it was very raining and cold, and feet hurting from so much walking, but Thao still took

lots of great pictures! Thanks hunny, my greatest photographer!

HỘI AN

On the bus go to Hoi An from Hue, about 4 hours...











Thao met a very beautiful girl that she wanted to steal and take home with her. ;)) She gave

Thao a very nice picture that she drew while on the bus.













The bus stopped for lunch. Here is Thao waiting to go pee ;))











A very nice picture behind the restaurant, even though it is a very cloudy day...









Finally got to Hoi An! Thao is relaxing after a long bus ride in our nice hotel room, only

300.000 dong ($17)









This is the famous Chùa Cầu - the Japanese Bridge Pagoda.









An old house in Chinese style. The whole city was mixed cultures of Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese...











Some beautiful hand-made lanterns. Here the woman is making a custom lantern for us. We

bought 2 big ones and 10 smaller ones, for about 500.000 VND













I'm eating something outside a Chinese pagoda. As you can see, there are more foreigners in

this city than locals. ;)) Because there is so many nice old buildings to see in this small town, it

is a popular place for tourists to visit.









Lanterns of many different colors. Thao says "I want to buy this one!!"









The "Lantern Lane". Don't like the price at one shop? Try the next one heheh.













We bought 10 of the lanterns shown on the left, looks so nice!













We bought 5 bananas too :))









Thao eats some bread in nhà hàng, and I had a much-needed cà phê sữa đá. :)









The river at the end of the town. We rented bicycles for the day from the hotel, and it was fun

to ride everywhere.









The motorbike ferry to cross the river... Looks like a lot of heavy motorbikes for such a small boat!









Kids sell little clay statues on the streets. Thao saw her beautiful girl again from the bus, and

bought her one. :) Actually the girl saw Thao first, and stood waiting for Thao to see her ;))









Specialty food of Hoi An: Cao Lầu and Bánh Vạc.









The lanterns look really great at night













For the final game of the AFF Cup against Thailand, we went to a cafe near the hotel to watch.

Thao was very scared and nervous near the end of the game when Thailand was winning, so

she couldn't watch and had to wait outside. I told her to never give up!! Because Vietnam was

playing so well but just very unlucky... But finally in the last moments of the game, Vietnam

scored and won the AFF Cup! Everyone was cheering and shaking my hand, and Thao was

very happy and sang the Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh song when riding the bicycle back to the hotel.

But it was a small town, so not many people were out celebrating, nothing like what must be

happening back in Hanoi. "Ohhhh they must be breaking Hanoi" :))

Huế Tombs

Lăng Minh Mạng

While in Huế we took the "Three Tomb Tour"...

The first tomb was the oldest one, completed in 1843. It was very big, and made to be in

harmony with the natural elements like trees and water.























































Lăng Khải Định









The second tomb looks dark and gothic, a mix of western and eastern styles. It was started

in 1920 and took 11 years to complete!

































The inside of the tomb looks very different from the outside - so colorful!









This emperor liked the boys instead of girls... ok so that explains all the color









This amazing ceiling was painted by foot... yes, foot....











Wow, it is really starting to rain now...















On the way to the next tomb, the bus stopped at a shop where they make incense and conical

hats. Each hat has a secret poem inside that you can only see by holding it up to the light...









Making incense sticks by hand











Lăng Tự Đức













The last tomb was for an emperor that had no children. This tomb was different because the

emperor himself wrote his own history and criticized all his mistakes. The original plan was

for the tomb to be built in 10 years, but he made everyone work day and night and it was

completed in only 3 years, in 1867.





















Can you guess which one is the statue??









Ok, no more tombs! Riding back to the city in a dragon boat...











Here is the famous Huế bridge on the perfume river













All the dragons lined up in a row!