Zara vs. The World: My Son Holy Land

Vietnam continues to amaze me. Just when I think things can't get any better they do. Today we went and visited My Son (said mee son) Holy Land and then had a tour around Hoi An town.

At 9am we were greeted by another tour guide, Bay (said by), and a bus driver. We were expecting to be on the tour with other people but turned out it was just us four on a 16 seater (approx) bus. Bay was very informative and told us lots about the surrounding country side and the history of that area and of Vietnam. We were quick to learn that he had three daughters. His wife works for the government and when you work for the government you are allowed two children maximum. But they were a bit naughty and prayed and prayed for a boy but their third child was another girl. If they have any more children she will get fired. Sons seem to be what everyone prays for.

My Son Holy Land was the religious site for the Cham people from the 4th to the 15th centuries. The Cham people were in this province and in the south but in 15th century people from the north came down to take their land. Lots of Cham people escaped to Cambodia to become refugees because people from the north killed a lot of the Cham people. Some Cham people changed their names to Vietnamese names because their appearance was very much like those from the north. Dai Viet people = those from the north. A big war between the two started in 1471. In 1306/7 the Cham army were very strong and the leadership was the best it had been. They took their army to the north and beat the Dai Viet army. Red Skin King was the best king that they had. This happened three times but after his reign they started to get defeated.

My Son Holy Land translates to 'beautiful mountain' and the name definitely fits the site well. Set in lush bush there are many remains of the temples. Around the remains are big holes where the bombs were dropped, they are everywhere (the holes, not the temples). There are a few surviving pictures of what the temples looked like after they were excavated and they had some towers that were up to 28 meters in height. We saw a few temples that were in the process of being restored and the country who is trying to raise money for this is... Italy! I thought that was a bit strange because I haven't heard anything about the Italians and Vietnamese working together before. The few statues we saw had no heads and I learnt that this was because the Dai Viet people came and beheaded all the statues to get revenge on the Cham people. Bay also told us that the Dai Viet people dug up various Cham kings remains and crushed up their bones to use as gun powder. I'm not sure how true that story is but it was interesting all the same. Another interesting piece of information is the lack of knowledge within the Vietnamese people. Apparently hardly any Vietnamese people know about the site, even those who live in the surrounding provinces know nothing of it. Bay said the normal Vietnamese person is just too busy trying to survive and provide for their family to learn about things like this. Fascinating isn't it? Enough of the history lesson (like I said, Bay was VERY informative) and time for some pictures.

Bay telling us some things about My Son

Dad and mum - nice shot

My Son Holy Land

Reconstruction work on one of the temples

A crater left from where a bomb was dropped

Close up shot of the stone work

Some more things I learnt on this journey with Bay was that a staggering 10,500 people die by motorbike accidents in Vietnam every year. That's about 30 people leaving home and never coming back each day. In Vietnam there are 32 million motorbikes already. Apparently lots of people drive drunk and can be unpredictable. A sad but believable statistic. Another reason I won't be driving here.

Bay also told us a harrowing tale about his family and the mines around the rice paddies. After the war he remembers that all the rice paddies were covered in grass and farmers were too scared to plant them again because the Americans had put lots of mines around in the fields. When they became starving they started to plant them again. One day Bay's nephew and uncle found a bomb in the fields and went to sell it for copper. As they were moving it the bomb exploded and the nephew became blind and shortly after the incident he died.

Everyone family in this province is given a piece of land to grow their own rice and vegetables, about 500 square meters. If you have more money you can buy some more. Their are people working in the fields everywhere you look. They are very hard working people.

When talking with Bay he told me how hard it is for Vietnamese people to leave the country and very rarely do they go abroad. He told me of his one experience when he got to venture 2km out of Vietnam when he was in the army and they went over to the border of Cambodia. It's conversations like that that really make me realize how lucky we are in New Zealand. We can do anything we want to and pretty much go anywhere we want to. When I say that I am a teacher they are all very intrigued because over here going to university and getting into a profession like that is very hard.

Hehe sorry about all the writing folks but it's for my own record so I can remember too :)

So after our trip out to My Son we went and explored the old quarter of Hoi An town. This too was also a great spot, full of lots of history and great buildings. There are a lot of different architectural influences in this area; Japanese, Chinese and French. They are really very lucky that all of this has stayed in such good condition, a lot of what has to do with the port no longer working as I mentioned in my last blog entry. We got to see a bridge that was built in 1593, a 400 year old Chinese wooden house and many other heritage buildings. The streets are full of great shops and a great thing about a lot of the streets is that they don't have any motorbikes on them, just pedestrians and the odd rickshaw driver whistling at you to move to the side.