Tour to My Son Jan 17

This is my hotel in Hoi An. I didn't manage to find a hostel here so I have the luxury of a private bathroom with a tub (More about that later). This bathroom had a river running through it for a couple of days because the water line leaked. It was just like the dorm bathroom with the floor always wet. Otherwise its quite nice and breakfast is included.

This morning I took a bus tour to My Son, a town about an hour away, to see the ruins at the ancient sacred site of the Champa people. The amazing thing about this site is that the buildings were built with bricks using no mortar.

Inside one of the large buildings.

Is this a bath tub in this room or a cerimonial font? The sign says "keep out".

The site is surrounded by forrest. Their community was 30 km away and the route they used to travel here is not known.

Today it is a World Heritage site and paths such as this are available for tourists.

These are my favorite flowers over here. They hang beautifully from rooftops and doorways.

Tonight was the New Moon ceremony at Ancient Town. For two hours they turn the street lights off and use only lanterns and candles.

A woman by the river is selling candles in little paper boats. You make a wish and put them on the river and they are for bringing good luck.

There is music and singing taking place here and there and tourists out in full force taking it all in. Actually, it was very beautiful.

Today, as I was sitting on the bus and wishing there was enough room for my legs to fit between the seats I was thinking about Liliput and feeling a bit like Gulliver. I keep running into occasions were I am too big for this world.

Take bathtubs for instance. I am always happy on the rare occasion when I get one in my bathroom but they are so short and narrow that it is difficult to get out once you are seated. The one I had in Mui Ne Beach was narrow like an hour glass at the center. Once seated there was no room to turn sideways to stand up or to move my feet under me.

The bed on the sleeping bus is similar to the bathtub. Just wide enough to lay on your back and just long enough for most Vietnamese people but not me.

The plastic chairs and tables at tea houses are children's patio furniture in Canada.

To buy clothing is nearly impossible. Today I got my finished pants back from the tailor, two pair of light weight travel pants. Made to order clothing is a unique specialty in Hoi An.

Tomorrow is a short travel day. I have a four hour bus trip to Hue. It is the sleeping bus again but will be OK for a short day run.