Hoi An - Temples at My Son

It's hot, hot, hot in Hoi An. Beautiful old town with lovely teak shopfronts. Today a bus load of us went to visit the remains of the temples at My Son. The temples were lost in the jungle for hundreds of years, until a French explorer discovered them in the eighteenth century. Built out of brick at the height of the Cham Empire, the bricks were carved into graceful figures that covered the temples. They were high, ornate and impressive. Unfortunately the Americans bombed them, damaging them badly. The ruins of a few of them remain, with some beautiful stone statues inside.

Vegetation sprouts from the ruins, which stand among trees, creepers and every kind of plant. Blue mountain peaks form a backdrop. I travelled today with a feisty sixty two year old Californian woman, who set off down the track leading to the temples at a smart lick.