More than once someone has asked me, “You’ve visited the My Son Sanctuary many times, have you seen the ancient Cham tower complex has something new?” Surprised and embarrassed, I see the question is interesting, so I make a decision to visit My Son again to find something new at the complex.

A view of the mysterious My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam.
A view of the mysterious My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam.
One afternoon, under the influence of the question, I came to My Son, which is more thoughtful, older, more secreted and more mysterious than ever.

At the time, there was a tourist group from Japan who were enchanted to the point of being motionless and silent by the legendary space at the tower worshipping the goddess Ganesa. Passionately contemplating the towers sinking down to the darkness, they accidentally missed the moment of harmony between day and night in My Son.

This time, I recognized a newer My Son. Moreover, in the moments between sunset and night, the entire valley was swept by soft breezes and gentle light as the steps of a goddess drifting away. Another time I visited My Son at night. Under the moonlight, the towers seem to be more illusory yet more striking in the darkness. Separated towers seem to join together with groups of towers. At night, there seems to be no limit of space.

The valley looks like an installation work of art, somewhere ordered, somewhere ridiculous, somewhere modern and somewhere primitive. The moonlight makes everything look closer and more solemn.

One morning I woke up with My Son under the glistening and cozy sunlight shining on the legendary valley. The shadows of the towers stretch down and pile up on each other, covering the mossy black rocks. In the morning, My Son looks younger in its tranquility.

The My Son Sanctuary, located in the central province of Quang Nam, is famous as a complex of religious monuments of the Cham people. The Chams erected these monumental towers of baked brick and sandstone on square or rectangular foundations. The base represents the world of humans, the tower body represents the world of spirits and the tower head (typically lotus shaped) the realm between the two worlds.

The builders of My Son derived their cultural and spiritual influences almost exclusively from India in the form of the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Shiva was the central figure of worship whose images abound among what remains of the Cham monuments.

The site has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage.