My Son Sanctuary

Our guide spoke excellent Japanese and taught us about the history of Vietnam and the ruins, and we appreciated learning about the highlights of the ruins. We went in May, and by 9am, the area around the ruins was extremely hot with no shade, making even walking difficult. You can travel from the entrance to the vicinity of the ruins by cart, but there is no shade and it is quite a distance, so I don't think we could have walked to the ruins without the cart. Walking between the ruins was somewhat less hot as we walked along tree-lined paths, but a parasol is essential. The ruins were mostly destroyed by American bombs and have been restored to their current form, but they have made efforts to show the alterations by using different colored bricks before and after the restoration. Apparently, the brickwork techniques used before the restoration were so advanced that they cannot be replicated with modern technology, and I was impressed by the high level of skill of the ancestors. We had lunch in Hoi An. The soup was delicious, and even the picky children ate it, which was great. Overall, the guide was very knowledgeable, and it was great to hear all sorts of stories.