Going to Heaven – Really?

We were heading north into Central Vietnam and opted for an early departure to avoid some of the heat and the crowds of tourists who descend upon My Son. From Hoi An north to the former DMZ, the central part of the country is rich in historical sights and has a comparable amount of natural beauty.

If one thought that the Chinese shaped Vietnam until the French moved in, My (pronounced me) Son is the evidence that there was Indian influence as well. The kingdom of Champa flourished from the 2nd to the 15th century; the remains of the kingdom are mainly found at My Son. At its pinnacle, Champa controlled the entire central coast of what would later become Vietnam. The Chams, Hinduised through their trading contacts with India, functioned as a so-called confederation of five states that were named after regions of India. One in particular is Amaravati (Quang Nam).

At the beginning of the 10th century Champa was under military and political pressure, and lost ground during each decade moving forward. By the late 1400’s, Champa was essentially a “broken” country. It wasn’t until the 1800’s under the reign of Minh Mang, that the Vietnamese were victorious in taking the area as well as the southern Cambodian areas of the Mekong Delta and Prey Nokor (later named Saigon).

Although Champa disappeared, the Cham people did not. While the kingdom was enveloped by the Vietnamese, some of the Cham remained in their former homeland and others fled to neighboring Cambodia. Today, the “Eastern Cham” are divided between the Mekong Delta in the south and the central coast. They are Muslim and Hindu respectively. The “Western Cham” in Cambodia adopted Islam centuries ago. The legacy of the Champa, both religious and artistic, has survived in this area.

The ancient Cham ruins at My Son provide a journey back in time. The rust colored ruins covered in a leafy sea of myrtle and green vegetation are all that remain of the religious capital of Amaravati, the greatest of the Cham states. Built in the 4th century, the Kingdom remained fully occupied for 1000 years. This makes it the longest occupied of all the major monuments of Southeast Asia. The backdrop of Cat’s Tooth Mountain (God Mountain) was planned. It served as a religious and intellectual center where Champa kings were crowned and buried.

















The Cham worshipped a dual cosmology, honoring both male and female deities.





My Son represented the male God king – evidenced by the sacred Cat’s Tooth Mountain and Bhadresvarain ( Bhad abbreviated for king; esvara abbreviated for Lord Shiva). My Son was the creation of its own cosmos: Cat’s Tooth Mountain, an earthly linga, as the symbolic link between heaven and earth and a nearby river representing female fertility.































The temples of the Champa follow one basic design. They represent the Hindu abode of God and face the rising sun in the east; there is normally a Shivalinga at the center of the sanctum sanctorum; and they are usually three stories high and were a simple interior.



























The ornaments were attached after construction and then “fired” from the heat of a wood fire that burned around the structure for days. The outer walls of brick and sandstone were carved with amazing detail after construction.

During the height of the Champa kingdom, only a handful of attendants would have lived at My Son. When we arrived at the ruins, we were early enough to enjoy the solitude and beauty. It was easy to imagine these ancient structures decorated with colorful flags and energized with the humming of the monks’ incantations. You can feel the mysticism of the Gods of a bygone era.

Sadly, the last vestiges of the Champa Kingdom are in a significant state of disrepair.


















The temples sustained major damage during the American War. The Viet Cong used My Son as a key base, which forced US bombing of the site leaving about 20 of the original 70 structures intact. Bomb craters next to some of the temples are clearly visible. A major restoration project is underway. There is one riddle regarding the construction of the buildings that hasn’t been solved. How were the Chams able to build brick structures without cement or glue?

The site is often compared with some of the other great Indian influenced archaeological sites of SE Asia including Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Ayuthaya in Thailand. Apparently not as grand as what you would find in either of these countries, it is a major contribution to Vietnam's history. In 1999 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Caroline, Jenny’s French friend from her high school days as an exchange student in France, has spent quite a bit of time in Viet Nam over the past ten years. She has raised money for schools in rural villages.
















A building project was currently underway and we all wanted to see the school and children. It was off the beaten path, to say the least, but well worth the detour.



We were warmly greeted and the children loved having their pictures taken.














The new addition would more than double the size of the current schoolhouse. Noontime dismissal was interesting, as bikes seem to me the major mode of transportation.


And the bikes were loaded!

The drive to Hue, our ultimate destination, is said to be the most scenic in all of Vietnam. The road, of course, is narrow and climbs at a steep grade along the coast. The 12 mile drive (just a bit different from the one in Newport, RI) was complete with switchbacks, hairpin turns, waterfalls and dense vegetation on the mountainside and breathtaking views of the bowl-shaped Bay of DaNang on the other. Amid the beauty of this vista, ironically, is a leper colony.



We climbed through many curves for close to an hour. Although a bit hazy at the crest of the Hai Van Pass, we lucked out with the weather. Hai Van means "Sea Clouds”, but the clouds would not ruin our day! It was a Kodak moment we couldn’t resist.

Let me go back to the title of the blog –“ Going to Heaven – Really?” As often as our guide Phung mentioned our route for the day, I always heard “heaven”, which at many points made sense, knowing that the road climbed to an elevation of over 1200 feet. It was only after doing a map check enroute, that I realized we would go through the Hai Van (not Heaven) Pass. Duh… So to answer that question – No, not really heaven, but glorious nonetheless!


Although not able to capture the “big picture” in my “snaps” the wide-angle view from the crest of the pass, captures both North and South Vietnam. Hai Van pass forms an imaginary boundary between the two.













There are remnants of the fortifications built by the French and later used by the South Vietnamese and the Americans. We had to stop here. Out of nowhere came a small group of souvenir sellers. One of the women was close on Jenny’s heels as she climbed this rock.










She was the most aggressive (still talking to us as the van door was closing on her basket) we encountered during the whole trip.
















It was all downhill from here. The hairpin turns seemed sharper, but the valleys, rice fields and lagoons were beautiful to see.



We stopped for lunch at the village of Lang Co. The restaurant sits on a peninsula, which separates a shallow lagoon from the sea.













Dining on the porch, we indulged in what felt like a decadent lunch of grilled calamari and tamarind crab (which is much too much work for me).
















Our server facilitated getting the crab meat out!



The remainder of the drive had small hills but more magnificent vistas. It was hard not to stop but there were only so many Kodak moment pit stops to make. As we got closer to Hue, the panoramic vistas gave way to the hustle and bustle of the city. It was wonderful to savor the beauty of this day.

And the adventure continues in Hue…

Viet Nam: Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

Can you hum that tune – the Do-Re-Mi Lyrics? There were many firsts as I boarded my flight to Tokyo and on to Ho Chi Minh City. The first was the adventure of getting to JF Kennedy Airport in New York on public transportation! The second, undoubtedly, was the longest flight I had ever taken and Ambien was in order for some uninterrupted sleep. It all worked perfectly!

Landing in Tan Son Nhat International Airport left me with a little knot in my stomach wondering if the “plan” would come together. My suitcase was on the carousel and I breathed my first sigh of relief. The second big sigh was completing the “visa on arrival” process.



I was engulfed in a sauna as I exited the airport. It was still amazingly hot and humid at midnight: 29 degrees centigrade (85 humid degrees!). There were hundreds of people with lots of luggage, not really luggage but boxes of stuff meeting people outside the airport. Scanning the crowd, looking for a perfect stranger, had to be the most anxiety producing moment! Finally, my name – in English! The third big sigh was the charmer! I found MY driver. Meet Duong.



My stay at the hotel was limited to a few hours of shuteye and a middle of the night (4 am) return to the airport for an early morning flight to DaNang. I vaguely remember closing my eyes!

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, is the largest city in the country. It was here that I had my introduction to electricity in Vietnam.



Energy conservation – the key has to be inserted in this wall-mounted outlet for the lights AND air conditioning to work. Brilliant, it is impossible to leave the lights or air on when you are not in the room. The overall management of electricity is another story – it really isn’t managed and these nests of electrical wires abound!









It was a quick flight and my guide, Phung, found me and we were on our way to Hoi Ann.









I had the Cliff notes tour of DaNang: the bunker remains of an American Army installation just south of the city, the beautiful and famous Marble Mountain, and miles of beautiful beaches. Given the state of the economy in the states, I was amazed at the amount of active construction. There were major resorts being built near the beaches, including two golf courses.

There are almost 20 miles of beach along this section of the country; between DaNang and Hoi Ann is China Beach. It is most well known of these beaches having earned its reputation as a favorite place for American soldiers on R & R during the war, on a dramatic TV show, by the same name, in the late 80’s into the 90’s.

Hoi Ann, my destination, is a seaport that was used by the Champa Kingdom from the 2nd to the 10th centuries. This trading port had been home to Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese and French merchants at various times over the years. The efforts of each of the successive regimes to influence development are evidenced in the diverse architecture that remains today. Hoi An, spared the ravages of war, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I found Penny, Jenny and Caroline having breakfast at a virtual oasis of tropical paradise near the Old City.








The Vuon Trau Family Resort was lush and serene, complete with hibiscus, frangipani, fishponds and singing (or talking) tropical birds in large bamboo cages. How cool is this to rendezvous with my friends on the other side of the planet? We had breakfast in the garden and I caught my breath briefly before we headed off to cooking school and a tour of the market.

Penny and Jenny are part of the Moosewood Collective in Ithaca, New York. They cook for a living. I knew that going to cooking school with them would be fun. Our destination was the Morning Glory Cooking School. Here’s an analogy - My Vy : Hoi An : : Stephen Starr : Philadelphia. Both have influenced and elevated the food scene in their respective cities by opening many successful restaurants.














Today, Ms Lu would be filling in for Ms Vy who is taking a maternity leave from the day-to-day business at the restaurant and cooking school. First stop was the market: Ms Lu pointed out the local produce, spices, noodles, rice crackers and seafood. Our young teacher had boundless energy and we were on the go weaving our way through the bustling stalls! I’m sure you know by now how much I enjoy taking photos in the market! As we were leaving, Ms Lu “confessed” that the woman who was cutting pineapple was her mother.

Back in the kitchen at the Morning Glory cooking school,



we donned our aprons and got to work. Ms Lu was a great teacher and our results looked almost like hers!
















We made spring rolls, learning the fine art of handling rice papers; crispy Vietnamese pancake with shrimp, mastering the frying of the crepe, green papaya salad and a barbeque grilled chicken (my absolute favorite) to die for!













We were on a tight schedule but wandered through the old city on the way back to our “piece of paradise”.



It was hot and the beach was calling.



We decided to get some exercise and pedal our way seeing the sights along the way. It was a relatively flat ride with beautiful scenery at each bend in the road. A slipping chain required mechanical assistance.













Swimming in the South China Sea – "delicious" is the adjective that my sister often uses to describe perfect water!









The beach was great, complete with umbrellas and lounge chairs. We hung out for a while before continuing our loop on the back roads through small villages where the farmers grow herbs and greens.









They are the most beautifully manicured vegetable gardens. (Mr Bill was having fun as well.) This felt like full circle in reverse, as the herbs and greens in the fields were what we saw at the market this morning.

The owners of our bungalow invited all the guests to a “family” dinner in the garden courtyard. We were a cast of characters right out of a John Irving novel: Penny and Jenny, restaurant people from upstate NY; a retired Canadian couple who spend quite a bit of time in Vietnam volunteering their time to assist NGO’s, a Dutch family with 3 year old son, who were traveling with her mother and a friend; a young couple (university professors) from Utah with 10 year old son, my roommate, Caroline, French by birth currently living in Amsterdam who has traveled to Vietnam 20 time over the past 10 years, and me, the school nurse on an educational sabbatical from Philadelphia. Does Hotel New Hampshire sound familiar? It was interesting dinner conversation, but jet lag caught up with me and I turned in early when my eyelids would not stay open.

And the adventure continues (after a night of sleep in a real bed)…