Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [164]
However, you’re better off avoiding the town completely and heading for Ninh Chu Beach, where the options are much more appealing. At the far north, quieter, end of the bay, the new Saigon-Ninh Chu (068/387 6000, www.saigonninhchuhotel.com.vn; US$76–US$151 and over) has beautifully furnished, thick-carpeted, spacious rooms, and the executive suites even have beach views from the bath: there’s also a big pool, tennis courts and a classy restaurant. In the centre of the beach, the Den Gion Resort (068/387 4047-8, www.dengion-resort.com; US$21–30) draws heavily on the region’s Cham heritage for its design, and the rooms are smartly decorated if rather small. Next door, the Hoang Cau (068/389 0600, www.hoancautourist.com.vn; US$11–30) is rather bizarre with rooms made to look like old tree stumps, and though they’re ugly and cramped together, inside they are spacious and good value, and very popular with the Vietnamese. The resort also features life-size statues of Snow White and the seven dwarfs as well as traditional Vietnamese characters.
The south–central coast | The coastal road to Nha Trang | Phan Rang and around |
The Town
There’s really nothing of interest in Phan Rang itself, unless you fancy wandering round the 150-year-old Quan Cong Temple, situated in the centre of town on Thong Nhat. Its faded, pink-wash walls rise to three consecutive roofs, each draped upon huge red wooden piles imported from China, and laden with fanciful figurines and dragons. Quan Cong is at the head of the third and final chamber, framed by ornate gilt woodwork and rows of pikes. Cham people sometimes come to shop at the market immediately below the pagoda, but for closer encounters you’ll need to venture out to Tuan Tu (see "The Cham towers and Tuan Tu Village").
The south–central coast | The coastal road to Nha Trang | Phan Rang and around |
The Cham towers and Tuan Tu Village
Elevated with fitting grandeur on a granite mound known as Trau Hill, the Po Klong Garai Cham towers (daily 7.30am–6pm; small admission fee) are far worthier of your time than anything in the town centre. Dating back to around 1400 and the rule of King Jaya Simharvarman III, the complex comprises a kalan, or sanctuary, a smaller gate tower and a repository, under whose boat-shaped roof offerings would have been placed. It’s the 25-metre-high kalan, though, that’s of most interest. From a distance its stippled body impresses; up close, you see a bas-relief of six-armed Shiva cavorting above doorposts etched with Cham inscriptions and ringed by arches crackling with stonework flames, while other gods sit cross-legged in niches elsewhere around the exterior walls. Push deeper into the kalan’s belly and there’s a mukha lingam fashioned in a likeness of the Cham king, Po Klong Garai, after whom the complex is named. In days gone by, the statue of Shiva’s bull (Nandi) that stands in the vestibule would have been “fed” by farmers wishing for good harvests; nowadays it gets a feed only at the annual Kate Festival (the Cham New Year), a great spectacle if you’re here around October. On the eve of the festival, there’s traditional Cham music and dance at the complex, followed, the next morning, by a lively procession bearing the king’s raiment to the tower.
To reach the complex, take the road to Da Lat for 7km, then veer north for a further 500m (about $5 return by xe om from Phan Rang). Even if you don’t plan to visit the towers, you may find yourself taking a break here, as all open-tour buses pull in for a short stop.
If Po Klong Garai inspires further interest in Cham towers, you could make the trickier journey out to Po Re Me Tower. Like its near-neighbour, the tower (which draws its name from the last Cham king) enjoys a fine hilltop location, though its four storeys tapering to a lingam are sturdier and less finished than Po Klong Garai. Its high point is the splendid bas-relief in the kalan’s entrance, depicting Shiva manifest in the image of mustachioed King Po Re Me waggling his arms, and watched over