Hoi An: The Cham

Vietnam's entry in the sweepstakes for Large Ancient Monuments of Note is the Cham ruins about 30km outside of Hoi An. In a rattling and mostly comprehensible overview, delivered free of charge by the bus company tour guide, we learned that the Cham were a Hindu kingdom established in Vietnam around 200 AD. It flourished for about ten centuries after that until it was subjugated by the Vietnamese. Interestingly enough, they used Sanskrit for their inscriptions. Sanskrit is an Indo-European language, derived from the same root as English, Russian, Greek, and French. It's quite far from home here.

The first order of business on arrival, however, was to escape the free tour guide. He was a short young man in a button down shirt with a voice like a bullhorn. Like many tour guides here, he spoke his own, entirely unique dialect of English. But he completely lost our confidence by insisting that we spend 20 minutes in the tiny Cham museum. Its exhibits consisted of a few stone inscriptions and some large-format photographs of the site. It all would have been much more apropos if we not sitting a kilometer or so from the scenes they depicted.

Finally, he released us from the bondage of the museum and allowed us to go towards a "staging area," where we were to wait for some "jeeps." He was technically correct in his use of the plural—there were two, honest to god American military Jeeps—but with a group of roughly 30, we were in for a long wait. Luckily, the first people into the initial jeep were three portly natives of Holland, whose bulk took up 95% of the space.

"Come on," said urged our sanguine guide, "It holds six."

The hell it did, but Nicole and I were desperate. Before the Jeep pulled off, we leaped into two startled but ample Dutch laps. Then, clinging to the frame of those legendarily uncomfortable vehicles, we made our way up to the ruins.

We had been warned that the ruins themselves were not overwhelming. Even so, we found them pleasantly whelming. The Cham built modest brick towers with small, claustrophobic sanctuaries. Their stately but decaying brick blends nicely with the rich, emerald green of the subtropical forest. The Vietnamese have made the most of it too. Handsome stone paths run throughout it, leading you easily from site to site. We spent a happy hour there.