no rain, no mud!

The storm hit further north and instead of rain we had a very hot and muggy day. We are surprised that we have only had a small amount of rain, and that was when we were driving. The mud baths were at the end of the 'to do' list and we ran out of time, but had another wonderful day of sightseeing.

It took us one and a half hours to walk around 4k to the Po Nagar Cham towers, along the sea front, lots of photo opps on the way - preparations for a beach wedding, a young man in a hoodie and bare feet in a tiny boat fishing the traditional way - bashing the water with his oar to - we think- frighten the fish into his net

The towers were stunning. Built by the Hindu Cham people between the seventh and twelfth centuries, of the original ten only 4 remain and are heavily restored. Gradually the Cham turned to Buddhism, though the towers show their Hindu history, based around the goddess Shiva. We had to wear fetching long grey robes to enter the four temples, which have an element of gaudiness we have come to expect here - gold robes and sequins everywhere! But there is no doubting the devotion of many visitors. In one temple some women were writing messages on banknotes as offerings and I was totally fascinated by the sight of two small cups of coffee, each of which had two cigarettes and a packet of M&Ms on the saucer!!! Frances (who works with bereaved families of many religions) was sure these were offerings of favourite things for departed loved ones to enjoy in the afterlife. For some reason I was handed a dragon fruit, a persimmon and and orange from the alter and told by sign language to take them and enjoy them!! We left the fruit as an offering in another of the temples.

Another tower contains a lingam, a fertility symbol, and we saw women rubbing it and then rubbing their stomachs - apparently there is a steady flow of childless couples praying for fertility here.

It was all an amazing and spiritual experience.

We went off the beaten path a little to find a shady rest spot and reflect on what we had seen, and suddenly noticed huge flying insects with iridescent wings settling on one particular tree, I spent a frantic 10 minutes taking photos, couldn't get one in flight but got many on the tree - including mating pairs, and.... up to six at a time all on top of each other, a sort of bug gang bang!

Next we headed in the heat for the Long Song Pagoda, built in the 1930s but looking much older. There are two huge Buddas, one lying down, and then up 152 steps and seen for miles around is the White Buddha. It was built in 1963 to symbolise the Buddhist struggle against the then repressive regime.

Knackered by this time, we got a taxi back to the hotel for a well earned shower and rest - and in my case a quick hair cut for $5 - before heading out to a nice dinner in the open air. A lot of the set meal was seafood, which I don't like, so the restaurant made me some tofu and some spring rolls and the waiter enjoyed practicing his English. Such lovely people everywhere.

Tomorrow we head up the coast to Quy Nhon, a stopping off point on the way to Hoi An, which promises to be one of the highlights of the trip.

Cham Towers and bugs here

We are on the 8th floor of a 14 floor hotel, lovely breeze and sea view from the balcony

the broadband speed is slow, so apologies if I don't get round many journals tonight