Visiting My Son

Written by Maddy:

Visiting My Son

We woke up early and were greeted with the morning heat of Hoi An. A bus met us at our hotel at around 7:30 am, and we all filed in for an hour and a half long ride to My Son. When we reached our destination, sunscreen was reapplied and groans were suppressed as we stepped off the bus into the heat and prepared ourselves for the visit. First we saw a smaller exhibit that told us about what we were about to see, with explanations of how My Son was originally built by the Cham people and, of course, its slow demise while being swallowed by the jungle. We then walked along a wide stone path with other tourists. Jim took us off the main path and led us up a narrow dirt road. We trekked through the suffocating heat, looking at each remaining structure one at a time. What we saw was mostly brick structures that had been glued together, and then carved. Nobody knows what the glue originally used was, but most speculation points to a natural resin from the jungle. Whatever the adhesive was, it has held the bricks together for a thousand years.

It was interesting to see the site where many of the statues we had seen two days before at the Cham museum had come from. We were given a map at the beginning of the tour, showing us each different site there was to visit. However, when it came to navigating what we actually had or hadn’t seen, we were still somewhat foggy. We continued to wander, and after 2 hours, we decided there was little to nothing we hadn’t looked at.

We reached a small outdoor café in My Son, and, worn out and sweaty, stopped to get ice cream. While we were enjoying the break from walking and the cool ice cream, Jim told us he had some bad news. He said that there had been an outbreak of a rare Vietnamese illness, and that before we came home, we would have to get vaccinated. As he told us about the shot we all needed to return to the U.S., literally nobody moved and nobody spoke. Glances of horror were exchanged as Jim described the 4-inch long needle, and Bryn leaned over to me and shuddered, “Promise to hold my hand?” At that point, Frederic and Ethan started to giggle.

Jim continued, “There are also forms we’ll need to fill out, and they’ll want the date. Does everybody know what day it is?”

We thought for a moment, and a look of relief swept over everyone’s face; everyone, that is, except for Bryn. She answered, with absolute certainty, “March 32^nd!”

With the help of our relentless teasing, she figured it out. “Oh,” she whispered. “April 1^st.” She proceeded to add, “Jim, I hate you.”

A long ride in the air-conditioned bus was welcomed by all of us, and we returned to our hotel around noon. The rest of the day was ours to explore Hoi An, and we were free to shop, shower, and watch movies in our hotel room. We went for dinner, and, exhausted like always, went to bed.