Day 13 - Hoi An
We started the day with a trip to another local market and then had a short "discovery" stop at a local brick factory. The highlight of the day was a trip to My Son, the site of the ancient Champa empire temple site. The area is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Due to the fact that the Viet Cong used this area in the jungle as a staging ground, it was bombed heavily during the war.
After I put this page together we had a very special "discovery" check out the end of the page.
Selling chickens on the street near the market
Making rice noodles
The rice in this region was planted almost two months before the fields we saw near Hanoi. This rice is almost ready to be harvested.
The ladies of the brick factory were as interested in us as we were in them!
This old truck had to be hand-cranked to start
Drying out
The clay comes in on the conveyor belt on the left, drops into the drum and then gets extruded from the device neaxt to the worker.
The ladies carry the finished bricks out of the kiln
The bamboo bridge to the My Son site
The jungle has returned since the bombing
This "happy room" was not here for the Champa empire or for the Viet Cong
Some of the ruins
The next two pictures show the ceremonial item called the "linga"
It was a half-mile walk into the ruins, so Han arranged a ride out for Aaron
We got to ride out in a USMC "left-over" Jeep
Then tonight we found that only for the second time in Hoi An's history there was a special festival along the waterfront:
Nothing like a special meal for a special night
