Day 8: Hoi An

Today I got up and went touring around Hoi An to look at the local sights, saw a couple of temples and saw alot of the Chinese influence with the pagoda looking structures. Then I headed for lunch and tried another of Hoi An's specialities 'white rose', a petite steamed dumpling stuffed with shrimp and tried the Le Brieur beer a local Vietnamese beer.

Then I decded to go on a tour of My Son, which translates to 'Beautiful Moutain' it was about 30Km from Hoi An. The drive over was a nice drive, we saw school children riding their bikes they all wear white. The girls wear long shirts and pants. Saw woman working in the rice paddie fields. My Son is nestled in a lush valley surrounded by hills. My Son was a religious center between the 4th and 13th century for the Cham empire. It was interesting to see that the architecture is so similar to Ankor Wat, we went inside some of the ruins and saw statues of Vishu, Brahma, Shiva, and Gnaesh. Some of the ruins were destroyed from the American bombs. Apparently theory has it that the Cham empire came from India and brought with them the Hindu religion. Vietnam seems to have a strong influence from the Chinese and the French and a bit of Indian influnence. Chinese with the pagodas, dress, and some of the food. French with some of the food, architeture, and the Vietnamese written language was created by a Frenchmen. Indian/Hindu influence with some of the aritecture. It's interesting to see how each of the SouthEast Asian countries are different, but have influenced one another.

I came back and had to try the last Hoi An speciality, which was yummy fried wantons. Basically they are fried wantons with crab meat, tomatoes, and corrinder on top and they put a dipping sauce over it. I had it with a lime lassi, which was very yummy. Finished off the night picking up my winter coat and party dress that I got tailor made, gotta get some. It's my last night in Hoi An I have enjoyed my stay in this quaint charming town.