Po Nagar - Cham Tower - Nha Trang

Nha Trang is the main beach spot for the locals, and as a result has everything you would expect from a little touristy beach town, lots of tacky nic nac stores, bars and resturants. We stopped there for the diving but on doing a little research we also found out a few KM´s north of the city was a Cham Tower called Po Nagar.

Myself, Rob and Brian decided to hire bikes and cycle there to have a look. Although the traffic wa a little daunting at first, we soon got out of the main resort area and once we'd crossed a busy bridge we began to discover the less touristy and more local side to the town. This was far more what I expected the whole town to be like, and it was nice to discover. After just over half an hour of cycling in nice flat conditions we'd arrived.

The tower was very different from any of the temples we had seen before. It had 3 separate buildings, the first two having shrines just set back from the entrance that were easily viewed from the doorway. The whole place smelt of incense and gently playing in the background in another area of the gardens was some live traditional Vietnamese music. The whole place had a wonderful, very traquil atmosphere. We went to go into the final temple building and yet again I found myself inappropriately dressed! Thankfully just to one side of the entrance was a small wardrobe containing what looked to be hairdressing gowns. Although I looked ridiculous and Rob found it very amusing I popped one on and we went for a look round the temple. It was beautiful inside with an ornate shrine at one end. Covering the statue of the godess was many coloured cloths, offerings and everywhere there was more burning insence. It was quite crowded and there were many people praying and leaving flowers, but it still felt very calm. It was great inside but I must admit I wasn´t sad to leave and get rid of gown - not only did I look like I was about to perm someone but it was very hot too!!

Here's a little video of the shrine, I hope it gives you a good idea of the atmosphere I'm describing:


After viewing the towers we followed the sound of the music and watched some musicians play for a while. It was quite a haunting sound but added to the surroundings. The final thing of note to mention is as we were leaving we had a Chinese family stop us. I thought they were asking if I could take their photo - it actually turned out they wanted to take a photo of them with me in it! I oblieged and after the strange event was over Brian explained. He´d been in China for 3 months before we met him. It turns out that for the Chinese it is a big deal to have westerners in your photos. It makes them look more travelled and cultured when they get home! It happened a few times more throughout the trip, and although I understand a little more now it is still bizarre to think that I am directly part of a stranger's holiday snaps!