My Son Sanctuary and Thu Bon River Boat Trip

Every part can be changed to suit your group.

1. Morning The Cham Towers of My Son

   We pick you up in Hoi An at around 6:00 AM and drive one hour inland to My Son, set in a green valley under Cat’s Tooth Mountain. Your guide explains how the Cham people built these brick temples between the 4th and 13th centuries without mortar, and what they tell us about Hindu worship in Vietnam. We walk between the temple groups and watch a short Cham dance performance before leaving. Many of the towers were damaged during the war, and your guide shows you how restoration teams are working to protect what remains. The setting in the green hills, often with mist in the early morning, makes My Son one of the most atmospheric places in central Vietnam.

   
2. Midday Thu Bon River and Kim Bong Village

   We drive to the river and board a wooden boat for the trip back to Hoi An, with a light lunch on board. The boat passes fishing nets, sandbanks and riverside villages. We stop at Kim Bong, a village of carpenters and woodcarvers whose families have worked on Hoi An’s old houses for generations, and arrive back in town in the early afternoon. Kim Bong families still make furniture, boats and decorative carvings by hand, and you can watch them work with simple tools in open workshops. The river trip is calm and relaxing, a nice contrast to the busy streets of Hoi An, with fishermen casting nets from small boats along the way.