Mỹ Sơn sanctuary : Central Vietnam
About one hour south of Danang Vietnam there is a cultural heritage site. This location was constructed between the 4th and the 14th century. It was a temple site constructed by the Kings of Champa, an Indianized kingdom of the Cham people.
Here is where this temple is located :
https://g.page/Mysondisanvanhoa?share
It was overcast day when I set out on a motorbike to meet a friend at this location. Here are some photos from the afternoon. After about a hour and 15 minute ride from Danang, I arrived.
1
This is the entrance gate into the temple complex.
2
to the left of the gate is where you buy your ticket in a cost 150.000 VMD (at the time of writing that is about $6.50 in USD. I feel a bit overpriced for what there is, also that they went to museums closed... however I'm happy to help preserve history
3
The ticket also comes with a lovely map and instructions on where to go in Vietnamese... I cannot read the Vietnamese so it was just a haphazard random walking excursion for myself.
4
you take a small shuttlebus up to the start of a trail and then you're on your own in the jungle, with the exception of the provided map written in Vietnamese.
5
my friend did bring along their lovely puppy dog aptly named "Lion". Such a cute fluffy thing this puppy is.
6
The Cham people were famous for their brickwork, and you could see it in all their temples the amazing different collection and sizes of bricks stacked like Tetris Masters.
7
The pathways wandered in and out of these forgotten temples overgrown with life... My friend and I pondered on how our future civilizations will look when we are long forgotten.
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I think the overcast skies add a lot of mystery to this place.
9
these temples, dedicated to gods and deities that were once important but are now forgotten, I wonder who the last person was who left this temple before it was forgotten?
10
the scattered remnants of a once massive civilization, laid out like bones in the sun.
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the pathways were nice however with modern bridges overlaying small streams
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the sky and the pillars just such wild colors
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like these leaves here. The color was blue for some strange reason
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I also really enjoy taking close-up photos of the plants growing out of the rocks, no matter how hard you try to hold back nature, it over washes you eventually.
15
this was like in the text written on stones as some people say that Cham people were descendants of Hinduism.
16
a lot of these type chambers as well for ceremonial reasons I believe, but again I do not know as I'm still working on learning my Vietnamese.
17
much the same way as in the churches in France and Italy with gargoyles, the temples here were adorned with protectors as well.
18
Mỹ Sơn sanctuary, forgotten ruin, the cast shadow of a past great civilization that is slowly being eaten once again by the forests.
19
walking back along the path following Lion to the exit. It was a good day. :)
Want to see more
You can see more photos from the trip, or buy a copy of any of the iamges on my smug mug site located here:
https://roamingsparrow.smugmug.com/Vietnam-2020/My-Son-Sanctuary-Vietnam-M%E1%BB%B9-S%C6%A1n/
Thank you for taking the time to check out this article, I hope you found it interesting. :)
Travel far and travel often my friends!
| Travel Photos: | @RoamingSparrow |
| Instagram: | IG - @RoamingSparrow |
| Photo Repository: | Roamingsparrow.SmugMug.com |
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