My Son

Decided to do a tour of My Son (meaning Beautiful Mountain) the anciet ruins in Hoi An. Khmer period buildings that were highly bombed during the war. We took a trip with An Phu travel, which are the guys we booked our open bus ticket with.(Ticket that gets you north to south or visa versa)
This was not a bright Idea. To start off with An Phu was running late. Finally they arrived and we were thrown on to our Air conditioned bus..Yeah right! When we arrived at our destination we handed over the entrance fee and sat waiting at a restaurant. Eventually our guide arrived with the tickets and we headed to the entrance gate. I need to use the Loo and this caused some upset. I was asked to wait firstly and when I said I couldn't I was allowed to go. Like a school kid. When I returned from the loo Ken had already passed through the gate sand I was left on the outside. There seemed to have been a little confusion and some talk from the guide to the security man and back. I was still standing on the wrong side. Apparently what happened was some one took the few tickets of those on the wrong side of the fence. These guys didn't belong to our tour. Finally, like a prisoner looking out to freedom, I was released. I was allowed to enter and join my friend in the cool group.
When we were ferried up in buses we had to wait for our guide to arrive and he said that we could run off on our own or go with him....We only had 45 minutes left to explore, so Ken and I broke loose and went on our own.
the relics were beautiful, even though they were small scale compared to Angkor. I could see why they were proud.
When we reached the bus we all piled back on and off we went. Some of us were going back by boat and some by bus. I had the privilege of going back by boat, where as Ken had a bus to catch and was heading back on the bus. Cutting it fine though might I add. We stopped in the middle of a bridge and those of us going bu\y boat jumped off and headed underneath the bridge. This is where Ken and I parted company...:(
The boat was waiting for us and I realized that there was no pier. We had to stand on a chair and lift/pull ourselves on to the boat. I had to put my ankles some where near my ears to get my little legs some where close to the bow. Very unnatural and something closer to a Yoga move. The guy pulling us on to the boat at the same time almost dislocated my shoulder in the attempt. I actually would have been fine without the tugging. I felt for the 60 years plus people on the trip. There was two couples from NZ who were well into the mature years who I am sure have not had their ankles near their ears nice they were kids...If ever! But we all managed and off we went to a fishing village. This means a stop off to a handy craft factory were the company gets a commission if you buy anything. I stayed on the boat and had a nap!
Finally back at the dock. Yes we actually got one this time!. And I was home free.
Note to self...Never use An Phu again!