A return to the early morning starts, with a 5.30am departure to visit the temple ruins at My Son Sanctuary.

My Son owes its unique spiritual origins to Indian Hinduism developed on the coast of contemporary Viet Nam.

We drove about an hour in land to the mountainous border Duy Xuyen District of Quang Nam Province. My Son Sanctuary is situated within an elevated geological basin surrounded by a ring of mountains, where the remains of a series of impressive tower-temples, formerly the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom.

Before we arrived at the temple sites, we meandered through the lakes of lotus flowers which were so wonderfully colourful.

Despite it being still only 7.00am, the heat of the morning sun was already making us sticky and hot and we can only imagine how challenging the tour would have been, were we here late morning.

After this Insta moment, we started the mile or so walk into the jungle to the first and largest of the Buddhist temple sites.

Conservation of the My Son monuments began in the early part of the 20^th century soon after their discovery by French archaeologists.

My Son Sanctuary reveals historical, cultural, architectural and artistic values developed over a long period from the 4th century to the 13th century.

We spent a couple of hours with our guide who explained that during the Vietnam War, the site had been hit by a number of bombs and that there was evidence of bullet holes across a number of the buildings and here the Viet Cong had hid out.

Many of the buildings have suffered as a consequence of shelling in the Vietnam War and there is still evidence of this with mounds and holes in close quarters to the ruins.

Despite the impact of war, the site has seen a number of preservation projects by Indian and Italian archaeologists who have worked on some of the sites to try and rebuild and recreate the ancient temples to varying degrees.

Whilst many of the artefacts have found there way to French museums and to the Cham Museum in nearby Da Nang, there are a few remaining pieces that have been preserved and retained on display.

After spending a hour at the first site, Andy was able to get some great photos of the site from a raised path just at the point an aeroplane passed overhead and left a trail through the sky.

The guide explained that the many headless sculptures were due to changes in religions and beliefs over the centuries, when the then ruling class would remove the head and replace it with one that reflected the current religious tradition.

The second temple site we visited was one that an Italian group of archaeologists worked on for over 14yrs, as they attempted to reconstruct part of a temple that had been destroyed during the Vietnam War. It’s a delicate balance trying to replicate history, but thankfully they only added part of the original structure after acknowledging how timely and costly it would be to try and complete.

We then moved on to another site a mile or so away, which required us to walk along the nearby river and through an area of natural beauty with dragon flies and more lotus flowers amongst the river beds.

Being so early in the morning we were able to see the temples with very few other visitors being there, which made us feel we were exploring the place in isolation.

The paths between the ruins were laden with lilies and other colourful flowers making the place feel even more stunning and other worldly.

After a couple of hours we said our goodbye to the temple sites and started our walk back to the entrance of the sanctuary, via a restaurant for a breakfast stop of noodles.

The last mile or so back to the road was via an electric buggy and an opportunity to get some final photos of the sanctuary before we left.

The hour drive back to Hoi An was spent snoozing and before we knew it we were back at the hotel and it was still only 11.30am.

Our afternoon ended up being a relaxed affair at the pool where we chatted to a couple from Australia who like us have recently retired and were enjoying their time in Vietnam.

We indulged in a coffee and cake at the hotel late afternoon, before an early evening dinner at a nearly restaurant before retiring to the hotel around 9.30pm.

This brings to an end another wonderful day in Hoi An.

Tomorrow we are off on a basket boat ride in the coconut forest. Until then.