vietnam’s third unesco site: my son sanctuary
An hour drive out of Hoi An is My Son Sanctuary. It was a political and religious capital of the Champa Kingdom. The Cham people belonged to an ethnic group in South East Asia.We were told the Sanctuary was built around the 9th Century, with the dynasty lasting between the 4th Century to 13th Century.
Before exploring the site, visitors can enjoy a performance in the open theatre. The traditional Cham performance included folk music and dancing. It was all quite exquisite.
We were extremely fascinated with the Hindu-influenced temple ruins, the statues and the site itself. As we explored the remains, we could climb into some of the temples and were able to get close to the relics. It is mind-blowing admiring the architecture of the temples and workmanship of the statues.
Although, it was teeming with tourists at My Son, the overall feeling in the air was tranquil and leisurely. It was a shame though, to see some of the site damaged due to bombings that occurred during the Vietnam War (once again reminding us how destructive war can be).
The walk out of the Sanctuary is a peaceful tree-lined path back to the car park. We had spent easily a couple of hours here.
Although we have never been to Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Bagan in Myanmar, we felt like this would be similar to what we would see there. It actually made us want to see those countries even more.
My Son Sanctuary was listed as a
UNESCO Heritage site in 1999.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited,
visit our unofficial bucket list
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May 12, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Wow!! look pretty impressive!
May 12, 2014 at 5:26 pm
It was pretty cool! But we haven’t been to Angkor Wat which we imagine would be more impressive!
May 12, 2014 at 5:28 pm
Hmmm..Angkor Vat is one place even I am looking forward to visiting someday….hmmm…someday! 🙂
May 12, 2014 at 5:31 pm
Us too…. Maybe we will see you there 😉
May 12, 2014 at 5:33 pm
haha…sure…I will make sure to stick on a small post-it on my forehead, saying- KNOW-ALL 😛 Make sure to look out for that! 😀
May 12, 2014 at 5:37 pm
And we will be the ones covering our ears and mouth as 2 wise monkeys 😉 Have a great Monday about to tuck into some dinner 🙂
May 12, 2014 at 5:39 pm
LOL…and I head for my lunch! 🙂 Take care! 🙂
May 9, 2014 at 9:11 pm
Great photos!
May 9, 2014 at 9:54 pm
Thanks Tanya 🙂 Have a great weekend!
May 9, 2014 at 11:44 am
I was thinking that it reminded me of Angkor Wat, and then I read your last paragraph! 🙂 I’ve been reading so many posts on Vietnam lately…it’s really giving me an itch to go back there and explore properly. (Last time, I was with my mom on an all-inclusive Korean tour for 2 days. Ick)
May 9, 2014 at 1:23 pm
It must be a sign 🙂 did you say 2 days?!! that is whirlwind!!Yeh, we were there for only a short trip too of central Vietnam! It will be interesting to see more!
May 8, 2014 at 11:22 pm
How wonderful that you got an up close and personal look at the temples and relics. Your photo’s are great! Do you ever stop and wonder how they managed to put up temples as high as the one pictured or even how things were constructed without the modern gadgets machinery available to man kind today? Great post… thank you for sharing.
May 9, 2014 at 6:17 am
Thank you for your encouraging words! And absolutely, we are always in so much awe when we see architecture from centuries ago! We think of the engineering and of the actual skills required to construct it – it just shows us what amazing people walk this planet!! 🙂
May 8, 2014 at 10:23 pm
Beautiful pics. I had no idea Vietnam had these sites. This has a Cambodian type feel to it. Thanks for sharing xo
May 9, 2014 at 6:14 am
So glad you liked the post! It was a beautiful place! Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
May 8, 2014 at 9:15 pm
So lovely, and tranquil too.
May 8, 2014 at 9:16 pm
It certainly was. The only thing not lovely was the humid weather 😉 but we looked past that being surrounded by such beauty!