enigmatic ruins, the route next and food watch in Hoi An

The Lonely Planet guide described the Cham ruins of My Son as “enigmatic”. This is the exact same word used to describe the Bayon in the Angkor Wat complex. However I feel that the word’s meaning is different for both ruins.

The giant carved stone faces that just stares down at visitors to the Bayon are unexplained; archaeologists have not reached any agreement as to why they were built in such a manner. Visitors experience a sense of awe as they behold the stone faces because of their sheer size, numbers, and the effort that is required to build such a monument.

In contrast the Cham ruins of My Son are “enigmatic” because I don’t know why UNESCO has decided to make it a World Heritage Site and why anyone would want to visit them, which we unfortunately did. I think the UNESCO World Heritage tag is going the way of the good food recommendations awards dished out by TV shows in Singapore like Makan Sutra: the more you give out the lower the quality. We spent 7 good USD on a day trip there which lasted less than a morning (we returned to town at about 9.45am) and took almost nothing away. There is barely anything for anyone to see there and the ruins are poorly preserved. Also, we were made to wait about 30 minutes for this bunch of Caucasians that thought the leaving time was 30 minutes later than the actual one.

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We tasted several specialities unique to Hoi An. “White rose” is this rice dumpling with shrimp filling sprinkled with fried shallots; “cao lau” is handmade noodles fried with pork. Apparently real cao lau noodles can only be made from water from Ba Le well in Hoi An town.

I must say that the food is extremely Chinese in orientation and inspiration, but they are still distinct in a way that I cannot describe properly since I am not a crazy foodie (yet). The Chinese influence extends beyond the food here; there are various Chinese temples and clan associations buildings which look almost exactly like those we had in Singapore (which explains why we chose not to pay the exorbitant entrance fee of 75,000 dong to view the insides of the buildings).

I think I have found the Vietnamese counterpart to the Blue Pumpkin in Cambodia. The Cargo Club has a bakery (boulangerie to be exact because that is the exact name written on the sign hanged above the counter) and they sell pastries, cakes and breads. I had the long baguette, brownie and chocolate croissant for 8,000, 15,000 and 8,000 dong respectively, which is dirt cheap compared to the prices we get in Singapore. The chocolate spills out of the ends of the croissant. The baguette is flavourful and fresh, and it is a cheap way to fill up hungry stomachs through meagre wallets. The brownie had a texture closer to cake, which I did not like because I prefer my brownies to be denser and harder, but it was a sizeable portion. I shall try the soya and cereal breads next.

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Next plans: we will be leaving Hoi An at about 6pm tomorrow on our open tour bus to Nha Trang, beach capital and relac-heaven. The bus ride is not as relac as Nha Trang: it is 13 hours long. Aushwitz on wheels, with a lack of leg room and loud Vietnamese people. Before that we have pretty much the whole of the day to ourselves with nothing much to fill it with. We should be visiting the arts and crafts markets across the river in Cam Nam village. Other than that we have nothing else planned. Roger and I will be going for our suit fittings at about 10 am tomorrow, before collecting our finished clothing at about 4pm. We should be taking our breakfast at the local market (we are yet to have a proper meal in a properly dirty local market) and I hope to be able to find exotic stuff to try. I am super gian for fetal duck egg. Wish me some luck.