Hoi An and My Son, 9/24

Hoi An was a light hearted stop after My Lai. This was also the first place we stayed for more than one night on the study tour, so the students got a bit of a chance to relax, and enjoy the pool.

Hoi An used to be a thriving seaport, but the mouth of the river silted in so the larger boats and ships shifted to Danang as a port. Hoi An still has a lot of smaller boat traffic, as can be seen by the fishing boats delivering their catch to the central market, which is directly behind the waterfront.

At lunchtime of our full day in Hoi An we had a cooking class. To the left you can see the eager sou chefs ready to go, and below or Mentor, Ms. Vy. She owns the Morning Glory restaurant where we had the class, and three other restaurants in Hoi An. She is a great example of the new class of entrepreneurs of Vietnam who started with nothing, and who are now very successful.

The first thing we did was slice up an egg plant without slicing all the way through so it could be fried as a patty. The eggplants in Vietnam are different than in the U.S. They are white, and more the shape of a tomato.

Next we made spring rolls, and ate them as promptly as they were finished.

Then it was on to barbecued chicken. Sarah is showing her clean hands after mixing the chicken and sauce! The eggplant had to soak, and the chicken was put aside to marinate.

Next it was on to rice flower pancakes, being demonstrated below by two master chefs.

After they were cooked, we added greens, rolled them in rice paper, and ate.

Our final dish was a papaya salad, as seen on the plate below, along with the cooked chicken. Looks pretty good for amateurs, and it was in fact delicious.

They also served us other dishes that the restaurant had prepared. By the time the stuffed squid came, we were all indeed stuffed.

In the afternoon we travelled about 45 minutes to visit My Son, another Cham ruin, that is considered to be their holiest of holy places.

Viet explained more to us about the Champa people and their role in the development of central Vietnam.

The actual site is a jeep or van ride away from the museum. Some of the students got their first ride in an authentic American military jeep. I have no idea where the site got them, but they are the real thing, right down to the data plates.



These ruins are older (started in 4th century), and in worse shape than the others we visited. That's partly the age, and partly because the VC used the site as a headquarters during the American conflict. It was heavily bombed by us. The government is in the process of restoring as much as they can, but it is a struggle, as the jungle tries to reclaim them as fast as the work is done.

You may have noticed that the Cham temples and towers are entirely made of brick. The interesting thing is that they used no mortar. Experts still haven't figured how they did it. Some think they used a past that hardened and became part of the brick. Others think they used uncured brick, then fired them in place. It's a mystery equal to how the Egyptians built the pyramids.

Here Carley and Pam pose in the door of one of the buildings. No one actually lived here, they just came to worship.

Towards the end of our walk, in sweltering heat by the way, we encountered this stone statue of a bull. The Hindus also worship Buddha, and the bull is believed to be one of Buddha's incarnations.