Tailors and ruins

Winter is coming in Vietnam, with storms and floods dominating the weather in Hoi An. Although it's not really cold--I never wear any more than a long sleeve sweather during the day; sight-seeing really isn't the big thing as the water forces me from the streets into little cafes and tailor shops. What normally happens is that I find something very pretty and give my visa card yet another blow... Although still within bearable dimensions, it seems to be time to move on after two days at various tailors'! This morning I defied the pouring rain and darkness though, and headed towards My Son--the ruins of hindu temples built by the once mighty Champa kingdom, controlling the middle of Vietnam for several centuries at around 800-1000 AD. The Champa were apparently notorious for waging conflicts with neightbours both in the north and south , and were later crushed into oblivion. The remainig people converted to Islam at some point, with only a fraction of the 100.000 antecendants still believing in the Hindu gods the temples were built to worship. The ruins today are very worn down and mostly shattered--particularly as a reault of the Americans' B-52 carpet bombing during the war, when the Viet Cong hid there. They still hold plenty of beauty in their own way, and covered in mist with a backdrop of lush green and no more than 4 other visitors at the same time I had a lovely morning wandering around. Back in Hoi An I had the sense to get my bus ticket to Hanoi for tomorrow--before I found yet another lovely dress at yet another tailor's...