VN5- Mỹ Sơn

 VN5 - Mỹ Sơn 

Do you know how great it is to sleep for 8 hours? In a room your only sharing with a single person, and that person is a chill old-dude who doesn't jump on your bed or stay up all night texting? We can't speak to each other, but me and step-dad understand each other on a level far deeper than words. 

After a continental breakfast, we went over to the shopping district "because there's no cars allowed early morning so it won't be crowded".  And when we got there... there was a professional photographer waiting for us! Surprise! Well, I was surprised. Stepdad may have been, he was wearing the shirt from yesterday, but he may also not give a fuck. Which I respect. Mom had her wig though, so I don't think she was surprised...

I was initially amazed that I was replaced less than 12 hours after I quit, then slightly resentful, but as it wore on... it was actually awesome. We got all the instagram done in an hour, I didn't have to do any of it, AND this is his specialty - he has connections with local business owners that have the colorful instagram friendly displays, he knows all the spots (this wall, that alley, the elementary school doesn't open until noon and has a huge mural behind the basketball court...) I think he even got a good shot of me, sitting on the railing of a coffeeshop's roof-bar, but I haven't seen the images yet.  And of course, he'd pass other photographers, en route to all the same spots. I think they have a cartel. Regardless, 5/10. Any insta-boyfriend who is sick of it should absolutely call in a pro and take the demotion to porter.  

Now that the priorities are taken care of, time for the main event of the day - Mỹ Sơn.  Our driver took us out across the rice paddies and farmland to the ancient city of My Son.  When I was told we were going to an old city I was picturing 1940s, maybe 1800s... and I was off by a Millenia. Mỹ Sơn is essentially a smaller Angkor Wat, built by the same mélange of Indian-Buddhist-Shaiva mélange of peoples who built the temples across India, Thailand, Cambodia, and - to my surprise - Vietnam!

With the exception of a single mud-temple in Peru, and a dirt ring in Ireland, every other ancient structure I've seen has been stone. But the Champa people were brick-builders. So these temples are made of bricks (the same size and color as modern bricks) laid from the 4th to 13th century. They're also pretty run-down, damaged by rain, time, and the Vietnamese war, but it's remarkable they're standing at all.  Many of them have been rebuilt, and we spent a few hours walking between them, into them (They're not that large... Lou asked "How can they live in a house so small?" I asked "isn't this the same size as your apartment in Saigon?").  At one point, we veered slightly off-piste to an unexcavated structure. It was outside the temple wall, so maybe it's not important enough to restore, maybe it's too damaged, or maybe they just aren't there yet. No matter why, it was still cool to go climb this 1000 year-old heap of rubble barely distinguishable from a hill, and see what the restoration teams started with. 

It was a lot of walking, but anything that old automatically gets points, and when the clouds lifted you could occasionally get good views of some beautiful mountains - which is what My Son translates too. Not only did it not rain, despite the constant threat, I wasn't even asked to take a single picture. 7.5/10

Lunch was was a slice of tuna over rice, and then back to the hotel. The older generation opted for naptime, I'm catching upon blogs, and Lou is off... wandering? Trying to configure her drone?? Dunno.

<Break>

As the sun was setting, we headed back out to see all the boats, much earlier than last night.  The bars all have their music at reasonable volumes, and the river is carpeted in colorful boats like fall leaves floating down a stream... if all the leaves glowed. An Hoi is truly beautiful at night, even if you have to weave through the crowds for the views. We walked down to the park where the boats started, and Lou launched her drone and immediately handed me the controls. My previous refusal to be her photographer was immediately rescinded and I took to the skies. A month ago I decided that drones were going to be my next hobby, so I hooked my remotes into my PC and I've flying virtual drones for the last month to practice... For my first-ever real flight, I immediately headed out over water and flew 100 yards downriver over hundreds of people, where I got a low-battery warning. But it flew just like the simulator, and I was so comfortable I canceled the auto-return-home so I could control the shots on the way back to us.  Probably not the recommended first flight.....  We swapped out the battery for a fresh one, which let me send the drone well out of sight, but we had great signal integrity and gorgeous views.  Lou requested a few shots, and I did some nice complex-movement maneuvers coming back in.  Hopefully the footage looks as good afterwards as it did on-screen, because I'm gonna drop it here:

[IF LOU EVER SENDS IT TO ME]

Droning completed successfully, we all walked down the river, retracing our flight which lasted a few minutes in about a half-hour of weaving through the crowds. We wandered the night markets and eventually stopped for dinner (despite a very late lunch), and on our way back we played a traditional Vietnamese game... You pay a dollar for a card with 3 numbers on it, and then they sing a song, drawing numbered stick periodically. If you have a match, you get a flag, if you get three flags, you win!  So basically... Vietnamese bingo.  After a detour to a picturesque fountain Lou found during naptime, we made our way back to the hotel.   It's an early night, but I think we'll all appreciate it. 

Tomorrow, some mountain!