Route: Hoi An-My Son-Da Nang-Hue
--1st Stop: My Son, Quang Nam Province--
We woke up at 4am and by 5am, the mini bus picked us up from our hotel. Actually the 5am My Son tour is for those ppl who wants to watch sunrise. Well, it is the monsoon season and catching the sunrise is not our objective. We woke up so early is because we need to go to Hue en route Da Nang. Anyway, there were only 5 people for the early morning tour. (3 of us, an Aussie solo tourist & another European couple).
We had our very simple breakfast (Vietnamese style Baguette with egg) in a very old shop in the old town. We had our breakfast in the dark, as there were hardly any lamps or lights.
Weather was bad as usual. We reached My Son at about 6.35 a.m. Our tour guide told us we wld not be able to explore the whole place as there wld be floods. The temples are grouped into groups of 10 (Group A-K), and we only managed to cover 2 groups. We spent most of the time at Group B temples.
My Son is a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of Champa (Credits: Wikipedia) All the temples were made of red bricks, except for one which was made of stone. When we were in Cambodia, they told us the war b/w the Khmers and the Chams. Ha! So I thought it was interesting to see Khmers' enemies now.
The temples are dedicated to the worship of the god Shiva as he is known under various local names, the most important of which is "Bhadresvara." (Credits: Wikipedia)
All the Hindu gods, Lingas & Yonis are still fresh in my mind as I had seen them back in Cambodia & Java. In My Son, we cld see a complete Linga + Yoni combi which was difficult to find in the other 2 countries. Most of the time, we either see a Linga or a Yoni separately.
It's good that they converted some temples into a museum and kept those statues inside.
If I remembered correctly, this is the ruins of Group A temples. The temples were destroyed by bombs during Vietnam war.
Our guide decided it's time for us to return to the mini bus as the place wld be flooded soon. On our way back, we walked passed this bridge and realised the water level rose. Some of the tour mates, including KH went to check out on another group of temples, but the road to the temples were already flooded. HM and I decided to stay with our guide as we did not want to wet our shoes.
In the end, we still cld not protect our shoes and jeans!!! Damn!! This part of the road was flooded in water!!! Madness. The water level reached half of my lower leg!!!
Water water water!--2nd Stop: Thanh Van 2 Hotel--
Our tour ended early by at least an hr. We returned to our hotel and cleared up the "mess". Our "hairdryer" session started...endless drying of my jeans, socks, shoes & shoe laces. Ha! The rain was still heavy, so we decided to have an early lunch in the hotel.
Our fried wanton. Tasted really different.
Our chicken, roasted duck & chap cai meal.--3rd Stop: Marble Mountain, Da Nang--
12.30pm, our driver from Orchid Hotel came to fetch us. The driver's English was good and he was damn funny. Haha! We headed for Da Nang & first stop is Marble Mountain. On our way there, we drove passed China Beach. Vietnam got nice beaches....
The map of Marble Mountain. There are a few caves here, but it's not easy to find them, and we simply don't have the time to visit all of them. I guessed we did not managed to visit 9, 10 & 11 on the map.
Time to do some exercise. Climb the marble stairs in the rain is no joke!
Tam Thai Pagoda.
The whole place is like a big maze. We walked around the place but could not locate the entrance to the caves. The wind was so strong and we had to be extra careful. Finally, we found the entrances to the caves behind the temple.
Entrance to Huyen Khong Cave.
Saw the Guan Yin statue?
There's a big Guan Yin statue in the middle, but there was no lighting so the pic looked dark. I guessed the statue is made of marble, and the whole statue already turned black. I wish they did something to protect the statue.
I really regret not bringing a torch light. It's simply too dark to take any pics in the caves.
This is not some eerie picture. Haha! At least KH's cam managed to snap something! A Buddha statue in Linh Nham Cave. Correct me if I am wrong KH. (Pic credits: KH)
Van Thong Cave. The stairs seem small case, but do you know how much time we spent climbing up there? Haha! Thanks to the rain and wind :(--4th Stop: Danang Museum of Cham Sculpture--
The museum looked small from the outside, but it's actually quite big. However, it seems that they did not spend more efforts to make the museum more professional. The interior of the museum was very plain...and it is worse than Phnom Penh's national museum. But, they have a good collection of Cham sculptures though, and they are in good shape. Most of these sculptures are from My Son and neighbouring provinces.
Linga & Yoni.
Altar.
Altar.
Pedestal.
7 Lingas.
Bodhisattva Tara.
Holy bird Garuda.
Aquatic Monster Makara.
Dragon!
2nd floor housed a different collection. The artifacts are Chinese-related. It's nothing surprising as Vietnam was under Chinese rule for a 1000 yrs.
Palanquin made of crimson and glided wood.--5th Stop: Hai Van Pass--
It's time to make our way to Hue. There are two ways to reach Hue, either through Hai Van Pass or the tunnel. Our driver drove us via Hai Van Pass and one shld not miss it. Breathtaking views of the coast and cliffs. You can get to enjoy the long stretch of beaches.
The rain was still pretty heavy, and I cld not even see the road in front!
--6th Stop: Lang Co Fishing Village, Thua Thien-Hue Province--
Lang Co is a small fishing village. The beach is not really stunning, but the sea waves were huge!
The bridge which leads to the tunnel.--7th Stop: Thanh Tam Seaside Resort--
Our driver has not eaten anything that day, so he asked if we cld stopped by somewhere for him to makan. He drove to this posh seaside resort and we decided to follow him to the restaurant. Hahaha...we were hungry too!
Our first round of dinner at 4.56pm. My hot white coffee. Surprised to see them serve hot coffee using glass cup.
KH's cold black cofee.
My seafood porridge. It's nice to eat something warm in cold weather.
HM's pasta and chicken leg meal.--8th Stop: Orchid Hotel, Hue--
We finally reached Orchid Hotel at 6.45pm! Orchid Hotel has received very good comments by tourists and ranked no.1 in TripAdvisor. I have to say, their service was really good, and there were small surprises throughout our stay. Now I cld understand why it's ranked no.1 :D
Our welcome drinks and snacks. Their staff also provided us a very detailed map of Hue and a list of tours which they cld arrange for us.
Our room's toilet.
PC, Hi-Fi, DVD player and LCD. The hotel has a library of DVDs for us to choose. We can simply borrow them and their staff wld deliver the DVDs up to our room.
Our beds.
Their toiletries were like from some 5 star hotel.
Even free drinking bottles were also nicely wrapped up.
The city map and tour info.I was very pleased with the hotel, especially after a long day of travelling. Their room was comfortable and everything was nicely kept. Luckily we stayed there for 4 nights..haha! 1 night is simply not enough!
--9th Stop: Little Italy--
We went for our 2nd round of dinner.
We did not know which restaurant was good, so we found this restaurant in Lonely Planet. There were many restaurants selling Western/Vietnamese food. However, their Vietnamese food was not very authentic.
My seafood chowder.
Cream Di Funghi (forgot it's KH or HM's).
Patata pizza. Something new, but tasted kinda blend.
Fajita Chicken Pizza.Lots of ang mohs frequent this restaurant, but I thought the food was average and did not worth the money. (Guide book is not always right..haha!)
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