Saturday:Champa ruins near My Son

Visited ancient ruins from the Champa Kingdom ( 2d-15th centuries) at My Son Sanctuary. It was a Hindu and Buddhist religious center; though it is in ruins, it’s being restored and preserved. There was also a short dance and music show by members of the local Champa tribe presenting their traditional arts. See photos. For lunch we went to Streets, an NGO that helps disadvantaged youth gain skills in the hospitality industry. For about one year, they get health services, a place to live, English lessons, and skills in food prep. A charming recent graduate of the program gave us a demo of cooking rice noodles, and we had three different kinds of noodles for lunch. Then back to the hotel for free time, during which I went to “my tailor” for a fitting. I like one dress I ordered just for fun (a red linen shirtwaist) but am not very keen about the one I hoped to wear to Margot’s wedding. Oh well…it was worth trying. They pinned the lengths of both dresses and did other finishings, with the items all completed and delivered to the hotel by the evening!
This afternoon and evening, six of us went on an optional excursion to visit vegetable gardens, the local market and a small cooking school where we made and ate our dinner:Leggi altro