My Son Sanctuary

My Son Sanctuary is a UNESCO world heritage site with the ruins of some beautiful Hindu temples that were built over a span of 10 centuries (between the 4th and 13th centuries). During that timeframe, My Son was the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom, as well as a burial site for Cham royalty. At one time, the sanctuary had over 70 temples, but many things have destroyed those over the years - erosion, fires, and even bombs during the Vietnam war.

We made the trip out on the motorbike, it was just over an hour to get there (through some really authentic villages 👍🏻). “My Son” translates to “Beautiful Mountain”, and you can see why in the background of these temples. 

The heritage site runs between a mountain range and spans about 2km wide. So there was lots of space to walk the trails and admire the plants, ponds, and scenery. It’s such dense jungle and everything is so green and lush…especially compared to the dry prairies of southern Alberta we are used to  😂

There’s so much history about My Son, but the thing that stuck out to me was the craters you can still see caused by bomb raids. During the Vietnam War, My Son was used by the Vietcong as a field headquarters and it resulted in a bombing raid in 1969 that destroyed some temples. This picture shows a crater, now turned pond 🐸🪷 

We had a really fun day exploring a new area and learning some more ancient history 🇻🇳