Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 879

DIRECTORY
Bank Agribank, 12 Tran Hung Dao, has an ATM. The post
o ce has a Vietcombank ATM.
Bike rental Bicycles (30,000VND/day) and motorbikes
($7-10/day) are available for rent from most guesthouses.
Hospital Dr Ho Huu Phuoc Practice, 74 Le Loi T 0510
3861419; daily 11am-12.30pm & 5-9.30pm. Local doctor
who speaks English.
Pharmacy Bac Ali, 68 Nguyen Thai Hoc.
Post o ce 4b Tran Hung Dao (daily 6.30am-9pm).

East of B and C, the two long,
windowed meditation halls that comprise
Group D now house modest galleries: D1
contains a lingam, the remains of a
carving of Shiva and a statue of Nandi,
Shiva's Bull; D2 houses a fine frieze
depicting many-armed Shiva dancing,
and, below the steps up to its eastern
entrance, stands a statue of Garuda.
Bomb damage was particularly cruel near
Group A , reducing the once-spectacular
kalan , A1 , to a heap of toppled columns
and lintels. Within, a huge lingam base is
ringed by a number of detailed, small
figures at prayer. Group A is reached by a
stairway up the small hillock; Group A,
immediately to the south, is mostly
overgrown rubble.
he path loops past Groups G, E and F,
finally passing the stand-alone,
vegetation-covered temple at K before
reaching the car park.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
On a tour Most visitors come on tours from Hoi An; there's
a choice of sunrise tours (departing at 5am, returning at
11am; 180,000VND) and regular tours (departing at 9am,
returning at 1pm; 120,000VND); for both tours there's
the option to return by boat, visiting traditional villages
along the river; allow a couple of extra hours and around
40,000VND more.

MY SON
he mouldering, overgrown World
Heritage-listed ruins of Vietnam's most
evocative Cham site, MY SON (daily
6.30am-4pm; 70,000VND), lie 40km
southwest of Hoi An in a bowl of lushly
wooded hills.
he kingdom of Champa existed
between the second and fifteenth
centuries, and Cham kings were buried
here as early as the fourth century, but
the ruined sanctuaries you see today were
erected between the seventh and
thirteenth centuries. My Son was
considered the domain of gods and
god-kings, and, in its prime, comprised
some seventy buildings, which weathered
well until the 1960s when the Viet
Cong based themselves here and were
pounded by American B52s. here are
unexploded mines in the area, so don't
stray from main paths.
Archeologists regard Group B as the
spiritual epicentre of My Son. Of the
eleventh-century central kalan
(sanctuary), B1 , only the base remains;
stone epitaphs reveal that it was
dedicated to the god-king Bhadresvara,
a hybrid of Shiva and King
Bhadravarman. B5 , the impressive
repository room , boasts a bowed,
boat-shaped roof still in reasonably
good shape. he outer walls support
ornate columns and statues of deities,
and, on the western side, a crumbling
bas-relief depicting two elephants
with their trunks entwined around a
coconut tree. Next door in Group C ,
the central kalan , C1 , is fairly well
preserved; statues of gods stand around
the walls and a carved lintel runs across
the entrance.

11

The south-
central coast
Extending from the central provinces all
the way down to the wetlands of the
Mekong Delta, Vietnam's south-central
coast was, from the seventh to the twelfth
century, the domain of the Indianized
trading empire of Champa. A few
communities of Cham people still live in
the area, and there are some fine relics of
their ancestors' temple complexes near
the seaside city of Nha Trang . he other
beach resort along this stretch of coast is
the one-street Mui Ne , a 21km-long arc of
fine sand lapped by aquamarine waters
that's a big destination for kitesurfers. At
both resorts the majority of tourists are
sun-seeking Russians.