Part 8. Why ruined Michonne?
My Son is a country temple complex of a very ancient Cham people who lived in what is now central Vietnam. And this is a real city lost in the jungle! I do not know when it was lost, somewhere in the 13th century, but it was discovered by the French colonialists in 1885.
Joyful archaeologists rushed to clear and restore well-preserved, despite the humidity and vegetation, temples. And even brought them to a fairly sane look.
Less than a hundred years after the revival, the temples of Michon existed - during the war, the Americans bombed the complex of shrines and, as they say, left no stone unturned. What remains of the lost city attracts tourists, but there is not much to see.
I searched the Internet for photos of the pre-war period to understand what Michonne was like before the bombing, but I did not find it. But I found relatively recent photographs, in which there are details and elements that no longer exist. Either the Vietnamese hid part of the exposition, or Michonne is falling apart, dissolving right before our eyes. Well, there may still be a version - I didn’t research everything so carefully that I missed quite large details.
Why did the Americans bomb the world's cultural heritage? The main version is that the headquarters of the opponents was located there.
Now the temple complex is under the protection of UNESCO. But the ruins are not protected by anything and continue to crumble.
You can touch everything, you can climb on everything. There is security, but it is extremely rare - if tourists are already striving to break their heads.
It is interesting that the Chams built in a very original way - the brickwork was made on resin, that is, the bricks were glued together with resin. And then they lined the house outside and inside with firewood and set it on fire. The fire turned the building into a monolith. Another version says that temples were built of baked bricks and fastened with an oil-based mortar. One way or another, the structures would still be standing if bombs had not been thrown at them.
Slightly away from the main group of ruins, restoration work is underway.
Many people compare Michonne with Angkor Wat in terms of energy, historical value, and beauty. I did not feel the energy, perhaps because there were a lot of people. We came on a tour, several more groups drove up with us at the same time, people literally filled everything with their colorful clothes and the charm melted away.
If you asked me, I would advise you to go there as early as possible, while there are no excursions. Take a taxi and go.
We stayed there only a couple of hours, but the road is not close, we arrived in Hoi An in the afternoon and again, hello, a fairy tale)
How people relax in different ways)
We went to have lunch on one of the central streets. There, they forgot to include some small thing in the bill, and I still couldn’t explain that the coffee was too strong for me give me boiling water, please. But the food was delicious!
I used to spin the springrolls myself. What looks like chicken legs are actually shrimp baked on a bamboo shoot in the most delicate batter. Mmmmm. . . After all, Vietnamese cuisine is the most delicious cuisine in the world)
And then we pushed around the market,
and just wandered around the city, wondering and admiring everything they saw.
We were attracted by inexpensive prices in numerous shops so much that we did not reach either the covered Japanese bridge or the river with its colorful boats.
Photo of my fellow traveler, Igor Titov.
So you will have to return to Hoi An) Moreover, there is also the sea here. And in the next episode, I'll show it to you.
So we lived in Vietnam fifth day, historical. January 9.2015.
Whole cycle:
1. Preface to the story of how I went to Vietnam
2. Morning in the middle of the night or Hello Comrade Beijing!
3. Ho Chi Minh City is delicious.
4. Part 4. Ho Chi Minh City-Dalat.
5. Part 5. What would a day be like if it started in a madhouse?
6. Part 6. Da Nang. Marble mountains.
7. Part 7. The soulful city of Hoi An.
8. Part 8. Why did they destroy Michonne?
9. Part 9. By air, by sea, by land.
10. Part 10. Must see. Halong bay.
