July 15th, 2005
Hoi An and My Son
Hoi An is an amazing old town, with beautifully preserved wooden Chinese houses and a roofed bridge sitting amongst the pretty french colonial buildings. We spent the night in the hotel used to film scenes in The Quiet American (obligatory reading for the Vietnam backpacker).
Although the shops are all aimed at tourists, with more silk and conical hats than you can shake a stick at, Simon still managed to get some bargain tailor-made shirts. After a tasty meal of Hoi An specialities chosen by Ton, we had a beer by the river, and who should walk past but Niggy and Liz, our friends we met on the Mekong Delta tour. It was good to catch up again, and it seems we’re doing pretty much the same journey. We saw them again the next morning at My Son, a set of Cham ruins not far from Hoi An.
(spot the cock)
The ruins weren’t as impressive as Angkor, and in the midday heat we didn’ t have the energy to explore them for very long! However it didn’t help that they got the proverbial bombed out of them in the war. There are still many huge craters testament to this.