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Hoi An - January 27, 2018
Big, busy day today!
Our guide and driver picked us up at 8:30. We drove 1.5 hours to My Son (pronounced "me sohn), which is one of the foremost Hindu temple sites in all of South East Asia. This important UNESCO World Heritage place was built by the Cham civilization that existed and ruled in Central Vietnam from the 2nd to 13th century. My Son served as the primary religious site and place of worship until the Cham were overturned by the Chinese. Amazingly, after that the site went back to nature and was hidden in jungle for maybe 600 years until it was accidentally discovered by the French in 1898.
Restoration efforts by the French, Italians and Vietnamese and the declaration as a World Heritage site have preserved relics of the 20 ancient monuments that stand today. The setting for these temples is a vibrant green valley surrounded by mountains. It is a bit magical.
During the drive to My Son, I asked Phia, "What is the very significant aspect of this place that makes it so special that UNESCO has given it the blessing of care and long life." Phia said the value of this place is age and art. The earliest structures are over 1700 years old. Many of the ancient brick temples still stand today. Many are adorned by beautiful intact sandstone carvings from centuries ago. The bricks in the structure walls were adhered together with resin with no mortar line between them. The fact that resin from trees was the glue that caused the bricks to meld together for centuries was validated by Italian scientists from Milan University in the 1990's. Sandstone details of gods, dragons, masks, and horses still show forth in amazing clarity today even though their forms are decorated by nature with tiny ferns, moss and lichen. All this is here withstanding weather, careless treatment by people who chose to sharpen knives and weapons on some of the stones, fortune-hunters who stole valuable pieces, young people who shot up brick walls for amusement and others who helped degradate this place. Still it stands in spite of 1969 American bombs that destroyed one particular important temple here that had just been restored earlier by the French in 1938. Smashed! The bombs also left craters here and there around temple grounds. I know it sounds bad and I am truly sorry that we Americans destroyed any peoples' antiquities. But please know it is widely known that the bombed temple was a key storage place for VC ammunitions. Just breathe and take that in.
Twice so far, it has been explained to me that the Vietnamese translation for American is beautiful.
What a blessed place!
Change gears! We had a short break after returning to Hoy An from My Son. I spent my time writing this dang blog!
Then we walked to Hai Café in the old town where we met Than, our chef. We prepared for a tour of the market and a boat ride down the river to the Red Bridge Cooking School for a hands-on cooking class. First of all, Vietnam was playing Uzbekistan for AFC (Asian Football Confederation) championship. First ever for Vietnam!! We could hardly walk on sidewalks and streets. These people were pumped! Super excited! The staff at the restaurant could hardly contain themselves. They were so excited!!! They . . . and tourists alike were wearing red shirts with bright gold stars, they marched the streets; they beat drums and tooted horns! They rode motor bikes, waved flags and boy, they had fun. I wanted to skip the cooking class and join in. Truly I did!
We sipped our welcome fruit drinks at the restaurant and then toured the city market with our personal chef, Than. He showed us how great chefs, like him, select the best of foods at the markets at the earliest hours of the morning to serve us wonderful dinners in the evening. He explained why the market has no flies or filth - foods like fish and meats are freshly-caught/butchered and are sold for few short hours of the morning only. Than showed us his favorite Vietnamese herbs, his choice in vegetables and fruits and his choice in slicing and grating tools. We bought some tools. Wait until you see my slicing!
We boarded a wooden boat that took us up river to the Red Bridge Cooking School. What an experience! We made Hoi An Pancakes, fresh spring rolls, seafood salads of green papaya, carrot, cucumber and white onion with shrimp. We learned how to make fresh rice flour noodles, fancy garnishes and we cooked a whole lot of other stuff! And ate! I have the recipes and instructions. So . . . my lucky friends and family, get ready for a heavenly delight of Vietnamese dishes sliced, steamed, and fried before your very eyes!
Before we went to bed, we wanted to see the famous lighted lanterns on the lagoon. It is said people buy these paper lanterns with a candle, light them, make a wish and set them afloat on the river. We walked to the water where the streets were still crowded with people out on a Saturday night. The water seemed to tell us that most of the lantern lighting was done already. Soggy paper boats dotted the stream.
The dragon, the phoenix, and tortoise were lighted. Even at the late hour, some vendors still sold the lanterns. As we walked through the late night, hundreds of revelers and couples on motor bikes roared through the narrow streets. We smiled; we beamed with happiness at their happiness; we held out our hands and touched palms as they rode by. We touched warm hands and looked eye to eye, making sweet connections forever.
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