My Son is me sun

Today I am taking a day trip to the UNESCO World Heritage site My Son Sanctuary from my hotel in Hoi An (Vietnam).

The name ‘My Son’ looks like you are saying “my son” but it is actually pounced “me sun”.

These Hindu temples were built between the 4th and 14th century by the Champa Kingdom. My tour guide referred to it as little Angkor Wat. These temples are smaller and less impressive than the temples in Cambodia but are dated earlier and look similar, thus the nickname. My Son is impressive but I agree with the criticism that maybe it is not as impressive if you have seen Angkor Wat first. Luckily my first visit to Angkor Wat is later in my travels.

This UNESCO site had lots of destruction in the war (B52 bombing in 1969 and 1972) as the south Vietnamese were using the temples to hide out.

Researchers are still discovering how they were originally constructed in order to try to repair them. During my visit I saw temples in various states of repair.

There is a heritage dance show. It is standing room only in the very back for me. I only catch a short glimpse of it.

It starts to rain, people head for cover but I find it to be a great time to walk around with thinner crowds.

When our tour of My Son is complete we visit a lady who makes rice paper. We get a demonstration on how they are made.

We learn how the the rice flour is made, we see the fire below, and watch her spread the mixture.

I try my hand at it. I spread the substance and when it is cooked I transfer it to a cooling rack.

Using rice crackers we make a tasty snack with the rolled up rice pancake. Locals take these as snacks. It is pretty good.

We are taken to a local house where we are served a delicious meal family style. We are instructed on how to wet the dry rice sheets and make wraps filled with delicious toppings.

Our day is finished with a short boat ride.

Khajuraho

After our visit to the holy city of Varanasi we flew to Khajuraho to learn about Jain religion and a whole other side of Hinduism.

This little bitty Spicejet plane we took to Khajuraho from Varanasi was one of the nicest forms of transportation that we experienced in India. The one hour flight was very comfortable. We were pretty much the only English speaking tourists on the plane.

After our comfortable flight we had another long car ride to our hotel in Khajuraho. Everything in India is a long car ride away. The scenes on the way are quite like the pictures below. Most Indians are poor and have a very hard life. They lack what we would consider basic necessities like a toilet and sewage system. You will see many men relieving themselves on the side of the road (number 1 and number 2). Visiting there was a very eye opening experience. We really don’t know how great we have it in the United States.

Also typical, cow dung is saved into round “plates” and used as burning fuel.

Soon we are back to the luxury of our 5 star hotel again since we are rich Americans. (Note: We are not really rich but nice hotels like these are cheap to stay at for us but unobtainable for most in India)

Our hotel overlooks the temples we are able to see later.

The temples in Khajuraho were built by the Chandela dynasty from the 10th to 12th century. The dynasty eventually fell and the temples were “lost” until rediscovered by the british in the 1800’s.
The artwork on the temples is quite amazing. The western group of temples are most famous for their erotic images. We started with a smaller temple and worked our way around.

Vishnu’s Varaha Temple (boar)

We then explored the other temples with all the detailed images. Each depiction had a story behind it.

We then moved on to view the exterior of the other temples. We notice stories being played out in stone like the one below where a man looks like he is being torn apart.

And this very voluptuous woman.

Ganesha is everywhere.

Scene after scene appears on the walls.

One of the smaller temples nearby.

This lady is showing this little man or doctor the splinter in her foot.

Soon things get interesting. We get to see what the temples are really famous for. They are know for their erotic religious scenes. It is believed that this sect of Hinduism used sexual energy to bring them closer to god.

The time of day was great to watch the sunlight drape over the temples. All in all it was a great day to visit. We did later visit a group of Jain temples but they were soon to close and we rushed through them. I unfortunately did not get any pictures. I will say that the Jain monks have very strict diets and a sect of them spend time naked. You can read more about it here.

Later on that evening we returned for a light show of the temples.

Varanasi Boat ride

After watching the amazing Aarti ceremony the night before, we woke up early the next day to take a boat ride down the Ganges.

This lady was selling neem sticks early in the morning. Chewing on neem is supposed to be good as a teeth cleaner.

Before we started our boat ride we enjoyed chai latte out of a clay pot. I was testing my digestive system and it did me well. This street purchase did not get me sick!

At dawn we started our boat ride.

As did many others.

We floated down the Ganges and got to see many different ghats (stairways along the water).

Another tourist boat was nearby and one brave guy decided to take a dip. Many devout Hindus consider this water to be holy and a dip in the river is extra special to them.

Laundry is also done by hand daily in the river. You will see this up and down the river.

Many colorful boats hang out around the ghats.

This lady was making an offering along the river.

We decided to give our own offering.

Cremations are held at either end of the Ganges. One end I could not photograph because out of respect but this one was currently not in use. You will notice the wood all around waiting for the next ceremony.

We got off the boat and I was given a blessing.

Nice mini temple in the water.

Cremation supplies

We took a walk around after our boat ride and visited some temples (no photos inside) but there were many of these temples around the alleyways.

Our Varanasi tour guide. He was very enthusiastic about his city.

This cow would not let us pass and had a stinky butt.

After our early morning tour we went back to nap for an afternoon in Sarnath.

Varanasi: Aarti

We traveled to Varanasi by small airline. We arrived mid-day and were given some time to rest at the hotel before attending an Hindu Aarti ceremony by the Ganges.
The ceremony was at one of the ghats, or stairs, along the Ganges. A car could only take us so far so we had to walk the rest of the way to the river. We saw many bike commuters and rickshaws