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Region: South Central Vietnam> Province: Ninh Thuan>Location: Phan Rang Thap Cham

Phan Rang Thap Cham sights and attractions

Po Klong Garai Cham Tower - Well worth a look

8km from Phan Rang

Description
Eight kilometres from Phan Rang is a collection of ancient towers built by the Cham people roundabout the turn of the 13th century. The towers were built to honor a Cham king who was known for his good works for the people. Phan Rang-Thap Cham was the last capital of the Cham kingdom before it was conquered by the ethnic Vietnamese, so the spot holds a lot of significance for the ethnic Cham who still chaff a bit under their rule of the majority people.

There's a long 'gallery' leading up to the foot of the hill the towers occupy -- mostly just curios and souvenirs for tourists to buy, but the first gallery features some excellent photographs -- National Geographic calibre -- at prices that are a fraction of what a framed blow up of the same size and quality would go for back home. If you're a photography buff, or you're looking for something to ship back home to your penthouse, you could find just the thing here. You can also get an unflattering rendering of the Mona Lisa in wooden bas-relief, if that's to your taste.

The towers themselves are of impressively sturdy design and delicately ornamented (given the damage the ravages of time have wrought). The Cham people still use the towers as a pilgrimage spot -- on our visit, some of the faithful were gathered in the small interior of one of the towers, chanting in honour of their ancestors. It's just another old pile of rocks, but we enjoyed it. There are signs pointing to 'traditional Cham houses' on the other side of the hill, but they seemed to be recently-built, were closed on our visit, and did little to spark our imagination -- we recommend skipping them.


How to get there: To reach Po Klong Garai Cham Tower, head out of Phan Rang south on Thong Nhat past the post office, bearing left. At the next big intersection, take a left, following the signs to Da Lat. At the roundabout, circle round but keep straight. You'll pass through the town of Thap Cham (and understand why we didn't bother to cover it). After the railroad tracks, there's a sign pointing to the towers, 150 metres off the road to the right.

Po Ro Me Cham Tower - Tricky to reach, but worth it

Around 24km from Phan Rang

Description
This tower is not nearly as easy to get to as Po Klong Garai, but that's what makes it worthwhile. It's a single tower set on an isolated hill in the middle of a vast lowland ringed by high hills. It's a stunning location, and once there we wanted to hang around for a while just to soak up the view. It's a great place to head on a motorbike if you can manage to rent one in Phan Rang or if you have your own. If you go in a vehicle, make sure it's an open jeep (and hopefully a sunny day) to get the full experience.


How to get there: To reach Po Ro Me Cham Tower, head north out of Phan Rang on Thong Phat St. Continue along the highway for nine kilometres, then slow down and start looking for a large, white plinth on your right hand side. There's a major right turn after the plinth, go past it, and go about a kilometre to the next major right turn, just before the road veers left and the town you're in starts to disappear. After you turn, the road veers right, but you can head straight down a smaller road, lined with shops and buildings, with the hills visible in the distance. Continue for four or five kilometres until you see a football field on your left. It's triangular, and there'll be cattle grazing on it if the footballers haven't chased them off, but look closely and you'll see the goal posts. Take a left here and continue for another eight km. You'll see the tower on the hill before you reach it -- as you near it, the road heads straight for it, and there's a small sign on the right reading

Bau Truc and My Nhiep Craft Villages - Interesting

Around 10km from Phan Rang

Description
On the way to Po Ro Me, we highly recommend a stop at the two craft villages in the town of Phuoc Don, 10km from Phan Rang.

Bau Truc is known for its earthen-ware pottery and sculpture, the design of which is part of Cham people's cultural tradition. There's a line of pottery shops all along the same road, and each one is a little different and worth a look. The pots are made by hand, without the use of a kick wheel, and sometimes (quite amusingly) the potter circles around the pot to make it round. The sculpture is very imaginative folk art -- many of the figures are almost gargoyles, contorted in pain, others are nursing mothers or couples arguing -- a bit reminiscent of the wooden figures carved on Jarai tombs. The potters are perfectly happy to entertain visitors and welcome photographs without, thankfully, stopping to pose or looking in the camera. If you see a billow of smoke coming from behind one of the shops, go and investigate. The pots are fired by piling white wood and rice straw around them and setting it ablaze -- it smoulders for five hours before the clay is set.

My Nhiep is nearby Bau Truc and offers a similar experience, only weaving is the local metier. We only found one place open on our visit, but that was quite enough to entertain us. The weavers, mostly young women, sit at long traditional looms and weave colourful and intricate designs into swaths of fabric that seem to go on forever. The girls appeared to be quite happy when people showed up to visit (however beautiful the work they are doing, its bound to get a tad monotonous) though we found them a bit more camera shy at first than the potters.


How to get there: To get to Bau Truc, head north on Thong Nhat St from Phan Rang for nine kilometres -- look for a large white plinth on your right in the town of Phuoc Dan. Take the right before the plinth through the 'gate' which has the words 'Bau Truc' on it. Less than a kilometre into the village there's a school on the left -- take a left just before it (if you get to where the road tees, you've gone too far). Continue down that road a bit and you'll see the signs for the pottery shops on either side of the street, and perhaps some smoke blowing around from the clay being fired.

To reach My Nhiep, follow the directions out of town to Bau Truc, but pass the plinth and also pass the main road that branches to the right just on the other side. Immediately after, on the left, there's a small road that leads to the village -- you'll cross over a bridge and through some rice fields if you're on the right track. As you enter the village there are some retail shops selling fabrics -- pass those until you reach the town square (uh...large patch of dirt and grass) and you'll find the weavers.

Tra Cang Temple - A temple in progress

19km from Phan Rang

Description
Nineteen kilometres from Phan Rang there's a Buddhist temple in a remote location, nestled up against the hillside. It's still something of a work-in-progress -- on our visit they were developing the grounds with Buddhist statuary and seemed to be blocking out space for a lot more to come. The temple itself is not very old, but its chief virtue is that it's a working temple, not a relic, and a good place to experience Buddhist religious practices in Vietnam.

The trick to getting the most out of a temple visit is to show up at 11:00. This is when the monks are having lunch -- their final meal of the day, by the way. After noon, they don't eat anything. Maybe a little tea, but that's it. If you show up at meal time the staff will, without fail, ask you to sit and eat with them (don't try to eat with the monks!). The monks here are nuns, and if you feel like chipping in a couple of dong for the meal, find the head nun and place the bills on the mat in front of her -- especially if you are a guy, don't try to hand the bills to her directly.

After the meal they'll head into the temple for a long session of chanting and prayer, accompanied by faithful lay Buddhists who have shown up for worship. You're welcome to kneel down and join in and they'll happily show you the ropes. In addition to the statuary being added to the grounds, there's a temple up on the hill -- it's not a long climb, but if you attempt it at high noon in hot weather, you'll definitely experience what the Buddha was talking about when he said, Life is suffering.


How to get there: To get here, head north on Thong Nhat St from Phan Rang until you reach kilometre 16 (the marker reads 'P. Thiet 132' on the side you'll see first.) Look for a road to the left and a small sign that reads 'To Dinh Tra Canh'. If you reach the Petrolimex petrol station you've gone too far. The dirt road leads three kilometres to the temple -- it's a bit tricky, so take it slow, drive around the watery bits and watch out for the sandy bits.