Just 50km south of Hoi An there is another world heritage site: My Son, an ancient Hindu cult centre of the Chumpa kingdom. Built between the 3rd and 15th centuries, the Chumpa developed masterly skills in mortarless brick construction. Some of the old temples still stand today.
in 1968, the Vietcong had a base here. The resulting US bombings took out 8 towers. Today – more or less – 20 tower temples still stand in an idyllic rainforest valley. Grass grows on the bricks. Old and new, it really smells of history here. UNESCO, I apologise for the mistake with Hoi An.
The Cham were pirates who stole from traders on the nearby sea. That’s why they had many good friends, both in the south in Cambodia and in the north in Vietnam. They held the fort for almost 1000 years. At some point, they were apparently tired of fighting. In the 17th century, they quietly and secretly merged with Vietnam.
Today I am travelling with a small group in a minibus. They are all tourists, not travellers. They spend more money in a fortnight than I do in two months – and then complain that everything is so expensive. Australians, Scots and Americans talk about safe holiday destinations. When they go for a walk, they always take a parasol with them. For fear of being hit by a meteorite.
I look wearily out of the window. The Vietnamese are drying rice and corn on the street. I don’t like the way these tourists travel. If you want security and stability even on a two-week “holiday from everyday life”, please stay at home. You don’t have to walk through a favela in Rio to travel. But if everything is just touring around the zero line in the same places, there are no highs and lows, and without that there is no travelling.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.