Off the beaten track

Today our trusty tourguide Minh took us on a day's journey through the villages and countryside of central Vietnam on the back of motorbikes. We wound our way through narrow roads where villagers poked their heads out of their homes cautiously and young, careless children chased us down the dirt paths shouting "Hello!" We passed through rice fields that extended beyond our vision and rivers that swirled below us.

We made various stops along the way including a pottery village where we swirled clay bowls in our hands while old ladies without teeth watched on. We made rice paper with a family who were too embarassed to have their photo taken because of their shabby clothing. We watched silk worms weave their wares and then looked on as a string of women extracted silk thread from cocoons and wove it into reams of golden silk.

We then made our way down to My Son, a majestic cham king burial site 40km southwest of Hoi An that was built in the 7th-13th centuries. French archaelogists stumbled upon the ruins in the late nineteenth century and re-constructed the evocative and powerful towers. In the sixties, the Viet Cong based themselves in My Son which led to multiple poundings of attacks by the Americans. The effect of the damage permeates the site, with one entire grouping completely ruined.

The day ended with another visit to the tailors where we tried on our exquisitely made clothing and put in more orders for tomorrow. Hoi An is where it's at.