On our second morning in Hoi An, we woke up at the crack of dawn to tour My Son (pronounced Me Sun). This area is the site of the Cham Kingdom, which is nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. The Cham people are an ethnic minority group living in Central and Southern Vietnam. We beat the heat and the crowd (sort of) to explore the ruins from the 4th to the 14th century. Truc gave us a brief history of the architectural techniques of the temples, which still remains as a mystery. We were fascinated by the size and detail of the temples and intrigued by the lack of mortar used to construct the.
After venturing through the ruins and taking lots of pictures of the beautiful scenery, we gathered to watch a Cham musical performance, which consisted of dancing, traditional musical instruments, and authentic costumes.
Visiting the Cham ruins made the Cham Sculpture Museum experience come to life. We visited the museum on our way from Hue to Hoi An. The museum featured artifacts discovered by the French in the 19th century. We also learned the significance of the Fertility Goddess that was found in many of the artifacts.
On our way back from My Son, we made a brief visit to the Hoa Mai Orphanage. This orphanage was one of the service sites for GIEU 2010. We took a brief tour of the orphanage, helped touch up a mural, sang songs, and played basketball and badminton with the kids. Even though our visit was very short, we realized the impact of continuing the relationship between the orphanage and GIEU Vietnam.
No comments:
Post a Comment