Hoi An and My Son

The Thu Bon river in Hoi An

Let's clear something up right away. This post isn't about some secret boy child of mine that I've squirrelled away with my new Vietnamese wife Hoi An. My Son is, in fact, a temple complex near the city of Hoi An in central Vietnam. Hoi An is a very picturesque town that doesn't seem to have been built up as much as every other town we'd been to so far on our journey. The vast majority of buildings were under 5-6 floors and in the older part of town, near the river, most were 3 or under. The river itself has a lazy sort of feel to it; slow and fairly wide it sort of ambles it's way through town; even the boats on it seemed quieter and slower. This feeling was perhaps exaggerated by the intense heat that was bombarding the town. By this point in the trip we had gotten used to temperatures in the low and mid thirties but this was another beast entirely. We could only manage about 15 minutes gentle exploration before we had to pile into the nearest cafe and seek shade; we know when we're beaten, leave the sun to the geckos. The phrase "mad dogs and Englishmen" was deployed.

The thing that Hoi An is famous for is it's tailoring industry. There are dozens of tailors in the town each one bursting at the seams with stacks of cloth piled floor to ceiling for you to choose from. For those that are not used to having clothes custom made which, let's be honest, is all of us, they provide a range of catalogues from all over the world for you to browse through. Just flick through and if you see something you like then they will measure you up and knock you up an exact replica. That simple. The next day you can go back to try it on and make sure the fit is good, if any alterations are required then they can all be done in a couple of hours. And there you have it, tailor made clothes at about a fifth of the price. It almost made me wish I had to wear something more smart than t-shirt and jeans at work. Almost.

As my wife was being measured up for her new clobber (she has to wear smart clothes every day) it gave us the opportunity to speak to the people that worked there. It was staffed by a group of women one of which had a young lad that was playing near by and whilst I was off scouring the town for cash Sue had a heart-to-heart with the mother. Now, ideology aside, there tends to be certain things that Communist and extreme socialist states do well. They may not be so keen on the old democracy, multiple political parties, freedom of speech, that sort of thing, but they tend to be pretty up on getting kids to read and write, health care and the more social aspects of life. Cuba is an excellent example; even though the barbaric and short sighted trade embargo of the US has kept it a third world country the children of Cuba can read and write better than their American counterparts; better than ours too. And if there was ever a country where I wanted to break a leg or fall horribly ill on holiday, then Cuba is the place to do it - their healthcare is second to none and free to all. It would appear that that is not the case in Vietnam.

The woman explained how people tend to get married fairly young and have a child as soon as possible after that; so far so normal. But then she revealed that healthcare is not free in Vietnam; indeed, to it's indigenous population, it's very expensive. The cost of having a baby is approximately six million Dong; now, this may only equate to £190, but that is more than 8 months wages to the average Vietnamese. The Government will foot this bill for them but they have to repay it all and it's so expensive for them that most Vietnamese have to wait many years before having their second child as they clear the debt and perhaps save towards the cost of their next. But the expense of parenthood doesn't end there; education, even at elementary level, is also not free. This was a bit of a bombshell for me. The cost at this level is subsidised by 50% by the Government but this still leaves a basic level of education out of reach of many Vietnamese. It is the children of these families, we were told, that roam the streets trying to sell you their wares.

She also told us that her husband worked for the Government; well, I thought, some hope here perhaps. An Insider, maybe they can work the system and get some benefits? Alas, no. The Government seems to have their employees between a rock and a hard place. You see, you can't really turn down a Government job, it's not the done thing and this difficult position means that the Government can get away with paying them very little and no one really complains. It doesn't come as a huge surprise that the lot of the Vietnamese, then, is not necessarily a joyous one; this was corroborated by other local people we spoke to in other towns, but I'll come to their stories in future posts.

Whilst much of this was going on I, as ever, was messing about with my camera and decided to try to lure the woman's son into a photo or two. After a while she noticed this and asked to see the photos, she looked very pleased by this, even a little overwhelmed, perhaps. "My son," she said. I suspected that she didn't have too many photos of the young scamp knocking around the place so I said that, if she had an e-mail address, I'd be more than willing to send her them once I got home. Happily, she did, and she seemed pleased to receive them.

From her son to My Son.

This temple complex is the largest and most complete in Vietnam but is not actually all that large and can be given a pretty thorough inspection in an hour or so. There are approximately 30 structures still intact of which about two thirds are still in good condition. There used to be more than double this amount but time, nature and war has taken it's toll. My son was established by the Cham people in the 4th century and was still in use and occupied right up until the 13th century, a remarkable achievement. Unusually, the culture here is not contemporaneous to the nearby Khmer civilisation but the more distant Hindu peoples of Java; although the architecture is similar to that found in Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Building 7 from Group C, try to ignore Sue and Eleanor taking shelter in the shade

This masterpiece of the Champa Kingdom was eventually abandoned as the Cham people moved south to avoid an increasing Chinese presence from the north. Over the centuries it was completely swallowed by the jungle, this made it useful as a base of operation for the Viet Cong during what they call the American Aggressive War. For several years this was deemed a Free Fire Zone, which basically means that if a leaf fluttered suspiciously then the American response was to bomb the place back to the Stone Age. This policy was only changed when a French archaeologist wrote to President Nixon explaining the damage they were doing to this important monument.

Buildings 1, 3 & 4 from B Group

Dedicated to Shiva, it was a complete mystery for many years how it was these shrines were all held together, there being no sign of any mortar holding the bricks together. It is now thought that they built up the bricks and used some sort of resin derived from local plant life between the bricks. They would then essentially bury the entire structure in wood and soil and set light to the whole shebang effectively creating a huge kiln and firing the entire building at once. They would then dig out the finished shrine, decorate it and add in the statues.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, the complex is starting to get the protection it needs. My Son is one of the most popular tourist destinations in this region of Vietnam and is often swamped by coach loads of people. We wanted to avoid this and so made our own way there as the sun was rising; even so the temperature was dauntingly high already. Our early start meant that we had the ruins to ourselves, the only people we saw there were a team of archaeologists working on the Group G structures and a team of gardeners that have to fight a constant battle to hold back the jungle from taking the ruins hostage once more.

Buildings 3 & 4 from Group B

If you ever plan to go to My Son then don't expect Angkor Wat, they're not comparable; but if you make the effort to have some time there away from the crowds then you can look forward to getting a taste of a long gone but once rich, widespread and little known civilisation.