Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [166]
To honour their gods, Cham kings sponsored the construction of the religious edifices that still stand today. The typical Cham temple complex is centred around the kalan, or sanctuary, normally pyramidal inside, and containing a lingam, or phallic representation of Shiva, set on a dais that was grooved to channel off water used in purification rituals. Having first cleansed themselves and prayed in the mandapa, or meditation hall, worshippers would then have proceeded under a gate tower and below the kalan’s (normally) east-facing vestibule into the sanctuary. Any ritual objects pertaining to worship were kept in a nearby repository room, which normally sported a boat-shaped roof.
Cham towers crop up at regular intervals all the way up the coast from Phan Thiet to Da Nang, and many of them have been restored in recent years. A handful of sites representing the highlights of what remains of Champa civilization would include: Po Klong Garai towers (see "The Cham towers and Tuan Tu Village"); Thap Doi towers (see "The city and beaches"); Po Re Me Tower (see "The Cham towers and Tuan Tu Village"); My Son (see "My Son"); Po Nagar towers (see "Po Nagar Cham towers").
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The south–central coast | The coastal road to Nha Trang | Phan Rang and around |
Ninh Chu Beach
A more indolent alternative to trekking around Phan Rang’s Cham towers is to visit Ninh Chu Beach, a reasonably clean and wide crescent of sand that’s at least soft, if not exactly golden. Ninh Chu doesn’t have the same pulling power for foreigners as Mui Ne or Nha Trang, but its beach is good for swimming, sunbathing, beach games and jogging too. With several resorts located here, it’s worth considering as a place to rest up, particularly midweek, when it can be very quiet. If you’re here at a weekend, be prepared for crowds of noisy teenagers. To reach Ninh Chu, turn east onto 16 Thang 4 just south of the Huu Nghi Hotel and keep going straight for about 5km.
The south–central coast | The coastal road to Nha Trang | Phan Rang and around |
Eating and drinking
Eating out in Phan Rang is a bit tricky, as nowhere has an English menu: Quan 172 at 376 Thong Nhat serves cheap and tasty rice and noodle dishes, but you’ll need your phrasebook. Things are a bit easier on Ninh Chu Beach, as the restaurants at both the Saigon-Ninh Chu and the Den Gion Resort feature some Western as well as Vietnamese dishes on their menus, as well as offering good views out to sea.
The south–central coast |
Nha Trang and around
From Phan Rang, Highway 1 pushes on against a backdrop of first sugar-cane plantations, then toothpaste-white salt flats and shrimp farms around Cam Ranh Bay on its way to the city of NHA TRANG. Nestled below the bottom lip of the Cai River, some 260km north of Phan Thiet, Nha Trang has earned its place as Vietnam’s top beach destination, despite stiff competition from places like Phu Quoc and Mui Ne.
Much has changed here since the days when the Cham people knew the area as Eatrang, the “river of reeds”, and the city now supports a population of over 300,000. By the time the Nguyen lords wrested this patch of the country from Champa in the mid-seventeenth century, the intriguing Po Nagar Cham towers had already stood, stacked impressively on a hillside above the Cai, for over 700 years. They remain Nha Trang’s most famous image, yet it’s the coastline that brings tourists flocking: boasting the finest municipal beach in Vietnam, Nha Trang offers splendid scope for mellowing out on the sand, with hawkers on hand to supply paperbacks, fresh pineapple and massages. Scuba-diving classes and all kinds of water sports, such as windsurfing, kayaking and parasailing, are available here, and local companies offer popular day-trips to Nha Trang’s outlying islands that combine island visits and snorkelling with an onboard feast of seafood. Bear in mind that there is a rainy season in Nha Trang,