Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [178]
The most accessible of Quy Nhon’s Cham monuments are the Thap Doi, or “Double Towers”, 2km west of town on Tran Hung Dao, which have been the subject of an extensive restoration in recent years. Their former shabby backstreet setting has been transformed into a small green park where the slender towers, framed by palms, command attention. Both date from around the end of the twelfth century, and embellishments such as sandstone pilasters, spearhead-shaped arches and the sandstone statues of winged Garuda, the vehicle of Vishnu, give the buildings a spiritual aura.
The strand of beach in front of the Quy Nhon Hotel is the town’s most popular: fairly wide, and passably clean, it doesn’t see many tourists, so your presence might draw a curious crowd. From the central area, coastal Xuan Dieu slopes away southwest, passing a smart new promenade beside the beach. It then blends into An Duong Vuong, with agreeable stretches of beach behind the hotels, where locals come out in force each evening, when there’s often a fresh, salty breeze, to stroll beside the sea.
The south–central coast | North to Son My | Quy Nhon and around |
Eating and drinking
When it comes to eating, the two-storey Que Huong 2, 125 Tang Bat Ho, has a formidable local reputation and is regularly full to bursting in the early evenings: its sister branch is at 185 Le Hong Phong. Some of the dishes are fancifully-named, such as the “fried cracky noodle and roughly-fried snake head”, but everything tastes great. Alternatively, try the reliable, hole-in-the-wall restaurant named Thanh Minh at 151 Phan Boi Chau, where dirt-cheap, simple vegetarian fare is continuously doled out. Nem lovers should make for the Hoa at 124 Tang Bat Ho, while the Kiwi Café at the Lan Anh Hotel turns out cheap and cheerful backpacker staples. A couple of streets behind the seafront – Tran Doc and Nguyen Lac – house a few dedicated seafood restaurants, which score low on ambience but high on taste, with most dishes around 70,000–100,000đ. There are not too many places on the central seafront, but if you’re looking for somewhere to savour a sundowner with a view, try the Panorama Bar on the top floor of the Seagull Hotel.
The south–central coast | North to Son My |
North to Quang Ngai
Ten kilometres northwest along Quy Nhon’s feeder road, the throng of cafés and restaurants operating around Phu Tai Crossroads heralds your arrival at the junction with Highway 1. From here it’s another 9km north to Ba Di Bridge (Cau Ba Di), where Highways 1 and 19 meet. Clearly visible from Ba Di Bridge, the restored Banh It Cham towers, known locally as Thap Bac, cut a dash on a hilltop over the river, and can be accessed by a road off to the right above the bridge. Their site yields tremendous views of the surrounding countryside, enhanced by the giant white statue of a seated Buddha below.
North of Ba Di, Highway 1 rushes on towards Sa Huynh. If you are travelling under your own steam you could search for the last vestiges of Cha Ban Citadel, the erstwhile capital of Vijaya, a couple of kilometres west of the highway around 21km north of Quy Nhon – look out for a small lane on the left signposted Canh Tien. This site constituted the epicentre of Champa from the early eleventh century until 1471, when Le Thanh Ton finally seized it, killing 50,000 Cham people in the process. The Tay Son brothers renamed the site Hoang De and made it their base in the mid-1770s (see "The Tay Son rebellion"). After years of neglect, restoration began in 2008, but