So far the UNESCO World Heritage Sites I have been to have been quite impressive. The Puerto Princesa Underground River, the Citadels of Hue and the Ancient Town of Hoi An. All of them have made me feel that they deserve to be in that prestigious list. We were on our way to the My Son Sanctuary. It is way out of town and nestled in the forests of Central Vietnam.
The My Son Sanctuary is the remains of the ancient Champa civilization that flourished from the 4th century to the 13th century. The Champa kingdom was an Indian inspired civilization that made their home here in central Vietnam. It is similar to other kingdoms such as the Khmer empire in Cambodia and the Borobodur in Indonesia. Only that the Champa kingdom lasted much longer than all the others.
There is a short walk from the entrance of the park to the My Son towers with a short bridge crossing at the entrance. There weren’t that many visitors here and I think I’m about to find out why. When we got to the towers themselves. We saw the crumbling remains of what was once the seat of power of the Champa kingdom. There used to be around 70 towers here in My Son, but the ravages of time and war have reduced these to 25 crumbling towers all in various states of disrepair.
There were some towers which were under restoration but it seems that it would take them a long, long time before they would be called impressive. We took a few moments to explore the temple remains. Before leaving quite disappointed. Needless to say, I felt like it didn’t really belong in the list of World Heritage Sites. It really is significant since it used to be the seat of power of the ancient Champa Kingdom, and since it is in such a state of disrepair the UN funding will definitely help them restore and preserve the towers. But from the selfish tourist’s point of view, I don’t think it is worth visiting yet. However, the entrance fee from visitors will also help in the restoration efforts. But I think it is going to take a lot of tourists to get this place restored. On the bright side, this place can only get better, right?
We had lunch at just outside the entrance, it was a small hut just and serve simple food. I guess you can call this authentic Vietnamese food, too. After a few moments, we were on our way again.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/MySonSanctuary.kmz}]