2 Best Sights in Quang Ngai, The South-Central Coasts and Highlands

About 15 km (9 miles) from Quang Ngai town, just past the My Son Memorial, lies the pretty casuarina-lined beach of My Khe. There are only a small handful of local guesthouses and homestays across the street from the beach, so it's best to plan to visit the beach, dine at one of the seafood shacks along the beach, and continue north to Hoi An or south to Quy Nhon to stay the night. Amenities: food and drink. Best for: swimming.

The Son My Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the massacre at My Lai and lies about 10 km (6 miles) east of National Highway 1A, just north of the town of Quang Ngai. The memorial itself is in the former hamlet of Thuan Yen, where many of the worst crimes occurred. The village, which was burned down after the attacks, has been re-created to look as it did immediately after the massacre, with the paths between the rice paddies containing the imagined footprints of the victims and their booted attackers, giving a chilling sense of the frenzy of killing that occurred. The nearby museum recounts the events of the day in vivid detail, with explanations in English and very graphic color photographs of some of the victims. English-speaking guides are available at the museum. In striking contrast to the terrible events that took place here, the memorial and the museum are located in a quiet and pastoral area. To get to the memorial, you can take public bus No. 3 from Quang Ngai bus station, or you can hire a taxi in Quang Ngai. Expect to pay around 200,000d each way for the taxi ride, and it's probably best that you ask the taxi driver to wait at the memorial.