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It was one of those wonderfully surreal moments that happen every once in a while. M-P and I, having just attended a traditional music concert, were walking down the street, when we heard a familiar song... and a meat-bun vendor rode past us, his portable tape player blasting "YMCA".
Today we did something worthwhile, and took lots of pictures to prove it. We visited the My Son Cham ruins, which are a bit more than an hour's drive outside of Hoi An. There used to be many more temples, but the Americans bombed the area extensively, so not very many are left. Still, it's pretty impressive.
It's odd, in a way, seeing these Hindu sculptures in Vietnam, but they don't look out of place with jungle greenery overtaking them. There are several different groupings of buildings (imaginitively named Groups A through G) within walking distance of each other, and you can climb around and over them and explore inside, which is nice. Also, there aren't that many tourists there, so it's possible to take pictures without having other people always in the way.
To get to the ruins, once you're at the ticket office, you have to walk across a rickety bamboo bridge, then climb into a jeep that takes you 2km down a trail that they're currently paving, so there's mud everywhere and it's incredibly uneven, and leaves you a short walk from the temples. The ride in the jeep was especially fun on the way back, because they managed to cram 6 of us in along with the driver (I shared the front seat with another girl).
After that, we had to go back into town to pick up the last of our clothes, and indulge in M-P's fondness for overdecorated (in my opinion) Chinese Assembly Halls. There are several of them here. We bought tickets for the "Hoi An Old Town Tour", which entitled us to visit five different houses/temples/museums, including the music show, amusingly billed as "Intangible Culture".
Since we didn't get to see all we wanted to, we decided that we're going to stay a day more in Hoi An. The town is pretty, the atmosphere is relaxed, the local food is delicious, and we were told that tomorrow night is the full moon festival, so the whole town is going to be decorated with coloured lanterns.
Today we did something worthwhile, and took lots of pictures to prove it. We visited the My Son Cham ruins, which are a bit more than an hour's drive outside of Hoi An. There used to be many more temples, but the Americans bombed the area extensively, so not very many are left. Still, it's pretty impressive.
It's odd, in a way, seeing these Hindu sculptures in Vietnam, but they don't look out of place with jungle greenery overtaking them. There are several different groupings of buildings (imaginitively named Groups A through G) within walking distance of each other, and you can climb around and over them and explore inside, which is nice. Also, there aren't that many tourists there, so it's possible to take pictures without having other people always in the way.
To get to the ruins, once you're at the ticket office, you have to walk across a rickety bamboo bridge, then climb into a jeep that takes you 2km down a trail that they're currently paving, so there's mud everywhere and it's incredibly uneven, and leaves you a short walk from the temples. The ride in the jeep was especially fun on the way back, because they managed to cram 6 of us in along with the driver (I shared the front seat with another girl).
After that, we had to go back into town to pick up the last of our clothes, and indulge in M-P's fondness for overdecorated (in my opinion) Chinese Assembly Halls. There are several of them here. We bought tickets for the "Hoi An Old Town Tour", which entitled us to visit five different houses/temples/museums, including the music show, amusingly billed as "Intangible Culture".
Since we didn't get to see all we wanted to, we decided that we're going to stay a day more in Hoi An. The town is pretty, the atmosphere is relaxed, the local food is delicious, and we were told that tomorrow night is the full moon festival, so the whole town is going to be decorated with coloured lanterns.
