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CENTRAL HIGHLANDS
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Central
and the coast line of Vietnam (
includes Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Phan
Thiet, Phan Rang, My Lai, central
highland...) is featured by lots of
lovely beaches. With 3,260km-long
coastline, Vietnam has numerous
pristine plages, of which those in
the Centre are highly recommended
for their amazingly crystal water,
rich of sunlight, less of
rivermouths, and flat shore dotted
by fishing villages; few of them
have been developed as comfortable
resorts like China Beach, Nha Trang
or Phan Thiet. Yet, should you turn
West, you will meet an absolute
different topography near the Lao
border – the fertile plateaus
cultivated for industry trees
plantation and cattle farming. It's
Tay Nguyen – "the Plateau in the
West". There are also lots of
minority groups inhabit this area
with those customs and conducts that
are very unlike their brothers in
Northern Vietnam. Their festive days
and exciting daily life, the
highland scenery and the sea and
mountain resorts – all make a voyage
to the Centre of Vietnam so
diversified and memorable.
Dai Lanh Beach
Located
at around 80 km North of Nha Trang,
Dai Lanh is a picturesque fishing
village with red-tile roofs. There's
a high vantage point in the area
known as Cap Varella, with sweeping
views. Dai Lanh Beach extends along
Highway 1, at the southern end it
becomes a sand dune area that
connects with the 30-km-long Hon Gom
Peninsula, another scenic area.
Sheltered in here is Vung Co, one of
the nicest beaches on the coast. Any
bus heading between Qui Nhon and Nha
Trang will pass through there.
See
also
Cana Beach
35 km
South of Phan Rang, and 123 km North
of Phan Thiet lies Cana Beach, a
great stretch of white sand strewn
with boulders. The water is a
beautiful turquoise. Onshore, the
area has been colonized by prickly
pear cacti.
Phan Thiet
Phan
Thiet is an old Cham outpost of
75,000 people that supports a large
fishing fleet and is famous for
"nuoc mam", or fish sauce, the
traditional and most popular dipping
sauce of the Vietnamese. The special
smell of fish and fish sauce
permeates the downtown area as Phan
Thiet river cutting through the
centre of town is packed with boats.
Phan Thiet has a beachfront a few km
to the east of town, but a bigger
draw is Mui Ne Beach, 22km east of
town. The road to Mui Ne travels is
stunning with sand dunes edging one
side while the other is bordered by
a relatively unspoiled beach, and
both sides are littered with
pregnant coconut trees. The fishing
village at Mui Ne is very
picturesque dotted with hundreds of
multicolored boats.
Nha Trang
Established as a port town in the
1920s, Nha Trang now has a
population of 280,000, and serves as
the capital of Khanh Hoa province.
Fishing is the major industry. It is
one of the nicest cities in southern
Vietnam, blessed with lovely
beaches, 19 beautiful surrounding
islands and great ice cream! To meet
the increasing number of local and
foreign tourists, different kinds of
hotels and guests houses have been
built along the beachfront,
intermingled with old French villas.
It's pleasant to cycling in Nha
Trang and the surroundings, since
the city has wide boulevards and
little traffic. On days where it is
too warm to cycle, you should take a
boat out to the islands for a day of
snorkeling in turquoise water and
coral reefs, have a fantastic
seafood banquet for lunch, and
return to town just in time to
wander down to the beach for a late
afternoon beer of fruit shake. A
number of remarkable sights is in
the suburb, of which we would
recommend:
Po
Nagar Cham Tower
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On the
north side of Nha Trang, across Xom
Bong Bridge excited with red-blue
fishing boats are the best-preserved
Cham Towers in Central Vietnam, a
sanctuary of Po Nagar, a mythical
goddess. Among the 8 towers
constructed between the 7th
and 12th centuries, only
4 left and they are still used as
places of worship. There is a group
of nuns that may show you around
with their best sign language and
smiles and there is a small
interesting museum to the right of
the north tower displaying
photographs and ancient statues. The
hillock upon which the Cham Towers
sit offers a great panorama of the
surrounds and a view over the
entrance to the river with Nha Trang
as a background. The entrance to the
site is at street level followed by
a staircase uphill to the top. You
will notice on the right of you way
up the remains of the meditation
hall, which was the original
entrance for Cham worshippers. The
north tower is the largest and main
one situated on a higher level
directly in front of the meditation
hall. The other smaller towers are
only metres away from this and all
of them are facing due east.
Remember to take off your shoes
before entering any of the temples.
Hon
Chong Headland
Due
east of the Cham Towers are fishing
villages, with a lot of boats move
in and out of the surreal-looking
bay by Xom Bong Bridge. A slippery
fish market opens early in the
morning. West of the Cham Towers is
Hai Dao Island resort, a collection
of cabins connected to the mainland
by footbridges. Cockfights are
sometimes staged here. To the
northeast of the towers is Hon Chong
Promontory where hundreds of
boulders are balanced on top of one
another. The massive boulder at the
tip of the Promontory is call Chong
Rock. Various legends are associated
with this boulder which is said to
bear the imprint of a large hand.
Naturally, there are various
(beautiful) look-outs with
refreshment stalls are set around by
the local people.
Pagodas
and churches
On the
northwest side of Nha Trang is Long
Son Pagoda, and active Buddhist
temple featuring and unusual red
brass Buddha on a wooden lotus
pedestal. On top of a hill behind
the pagoda is the massive 9-m high
white Buddha on a lotus throne.
Embedded in the octagonal base are 7
stucco likeness of Buddhist martyr,
monks, and nuns who died protesting
the repressive Ngo Dinh Diem regime
in southern Vietnam during the
Vietnam War. Some of them have
immolated themselves and the white
Buddha was built in their memory in
1963.
On the
other side of the tracks, east of
the railway station is Nha Trang
Cathedral, complete with stained
glass windows and French Gothic
lines. It was built in the 1930s and
the daily masses are still held here
in the early morning and late
afternoon.
Pasteur
Institute
At the
north end of Tran Phu Blvd. is the
Pasteur Institute, with a small but
fascinating Museum dedicated to the
French Dr. Alexander Yersin
(1863-1943). The Pasteur Institute
was founded by Yersin in 1895, and
he is probably one of the most
respected French man in Vietnam.
Being a Renaissance man, Yersin was
not only famous for the pioneering
medical research but was an
explorer, botanist, biologist, and
entomologist, and also interested in
photography and astronomy. He
explored the Da Lat area and
recommended sitting a hill station
there. He was also responsible for
the introduction of rubber and
quinine producing trees and
discovered the microbe that caused
the bubonic plague. This institute
now performs research and produces
vaccines. Within the Nha Trang
institute, the office and library of
Dr. Yersin are now open to the
public and contain a small yet
interesting collection of his
equipment. It was on Yersin's
recommendations that his laboratory
in Nha Trang and Dr. Albert
Calmette's laboratory in Saigon were
upgraded to the level of Indochina
Pasteur Institute, the 1st
established outside Paris.
Indochinese Pasteur Institutes later
appeared in Hanoi and Da Lat, and
microbiology labs opened in Hue,
Vientiane and Phnompenh.
Further south - Phan Rang and Thap
Cham
Phan
Rang is actually a twin town, that
is known as Phan Rang and Thap Cham.
It is a small town on the coast with
its main attraction being the Cham
history and towers in the
surrounding area. The Cham Empire
thrived around Phan Rang from around
the 8th century until it
fell in the 17th century.
The Phan Rang region is very dry, as
it manages to avoid the summer and
winter monsoons, and receives and
average rainfall of only 60cm per
year. The immediate area around Phan
Rang is very beautiful and is
spotted with grape gardens, and the
best dragon fruit in Vietnam is
meant to be grown in this area. Phan
Rang marks the intersection of
Highway 1 and the best road to Dalat
from the coast.
Pklong Garai Cham Tower
The
main attraction in Phan Rang is a
small group of Cham towers which sit
by the roadside 7 km towards Dalat.
These towers were built in the early
14 century as Hindu temples during
the Cham Empire and they are
beautifully preserved. The towers
were named after the King who
invented a system of irrigation used
in local villages. As the tourist
buses from Nha Trang to Dalat pass
through Phan Rang, the Cham towers
are seen as a convenient place to
break the journey. The result is
that the towers are periodically
swarmed by travelers heading north
and south. You can enter the largest
temple, in the center of which there
is an ancient linga (phallic symbol)
with a human face painted on it. The
other towers still retain their
shape and some of the carved details
are clearly visible.
My Lai
One of
the war vestiges left after the
Vietnam War. The destruction of an
entire village by Lieutenant
Calley’s men is probably the best
documented military atrocity on
record. The massacre occurred on 16
April 1968, and 504 women, old men,
children and babies were mindlessly
slaughtered by Company C with almost
no resistance. There is a museum
here, with photos depicting the
series of events on this horrific
day. The atrocities occurred over
different sites within a two or
three square kilometers area.
Walking among the fields, you
occasionally come across a memorial
plaque indicating the number of
people that died on that spot.
Lieutenant Calley was later court
martialled and sentenced to life,
but only served three of those
years. Following the US Supreme
Court’s refusal to hear his case,
Calley was paroled. My Lai is about
15 km North of Quang Ngai.
Hill tribe villages
 If
you have some spare time it is
worthwhile visiting the hill tribes.
To get to the villages, take the
road heading to Dalat and the Cham
Towers. Before you reach the Cham
Towers there is a gas station on the
right hand side, turn right onto the
dirt road before the gas station.
The private road leads to different
villages. The irrigation system used
by the hill tribe people is
interesting and can be seen when you
explore the area. |
