21 August - Po Nager Cham Towers, Nha Trang (Vietnam)

The four brick towers of the Po Nager Cham Towers were built by th Cham people between the 7th and 12th century in honour of Yang Ino Po Ngar, mother of the kingdom. The aroma of incense from inside the temple showed that this was a religious site for the local Buddhists even today. The towers sit on a hill from which views of the local fishing village and Nha Trang can be seen.

The towers viewed from the city

Views of the Towers and Temple

A woman praying at a shrine

Temple dancers

Mother and baby at the temple

A holy man/sadhu 

A view from the top of the temple area

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A view from the top of the temple area

                                                               

20 August - Tri Nguyen Fishing Village, Coracles and the Sea, Ang Trang (Vietnam)

I hired a bicycle for the day and rode out to where the cable car went over the water to the adventure park on an island then stopped at the quay used by the tourist boats. There was a local ferry leaving at the time so I asked where it was going to and how long it would take to get where ever and back. The ferry went to Tri Nguyen fishing village on an island about 30 minutes away so I decided to get on the next boat to leave. The village itself was spread out both sides of the wharf and followed the line of the coast, logical, as most people there have something to do with fishing or the sea. The fishing boats were at anchor as they generally went out overnight and many of them had at least one coracle either on-board or tied up alongside. I spent a few hours on the island just walking around and talking to people as much as the English language would allow, which was not very much. One family was interested in my marrying their grandmother!

Island Views

Coracles for sale

Repairing a fishing net

The old lady is actually making a very fine fishing net

Laying fish out to dry

The ferry boat

                                      

Boats for sale

All the boats have a coracle on board

Sunset

Sunset

Home safely in the morning

                   

19 August - To and at Nha Trang (Vietnam)

Our arrival at Nha Trang was a bit of an event with a fight between the bus driver (and helpers) and some of the group (the others really, as we are no longer what could be called a group). Because we are a large number of people we were supposed to have been taken to our hotel but the driver refused to do so. As none of the Vietnamese spoke English and none of us spoke Vietnamese we ended up with our baggage thrown out on the street, some people shouting, then pushing and shoving with the result that some of the others were pushed to the ground, threatened with a steel bar by the driver, hit by the driver then threatened further by him wielding a knife. Apart from bruises no-one was seriously hurt and we left the bus with our hotel only being two minutes away from where we stopped anyway. All this could have been avoided if our illustrious leader had just said to leave the bus and walk in the first place. This was all to have been reported to the police once we arrived at the hotel but nothing happened. As I understand it the reason given was that it was decided that if the attack was reported then it would reflect on the reputation of Madventure/UKTOOZ. What a rubbish company if is more concerned about its reputation than the safety of its clients. Apparently further travel with this bus company was cancelled!!

There was one bright side to the journey. There were two little French girls on the coach and they had very bright silk sleeping bag liners to sleep in. The colour was enough to keep me awake, and perhaps one of them too as she talked and sung quietly for hours. When she did go to sleep the coach stopped for a break so she woke up again and her father was not amused.

The Sea View Hotel, but no sea view! Not a complaint as in the past there may have been a sea view but since the hotel was built others had been built around it and the view had become blocked. At 0600 hours, with all the excitement over, I went for a walk along the beach to find it very very busy. Realising that it was a Sunday and probably not a working day, the place was busy with people swimming (most adults and children wearing life jackets); sunbathing (not many Vietnamese do this); exercising by walking, doing Tai Chi or similar, or just relaxing. By 0700 hours a lot of people had left as I assume that their exercising was over and the others did not want to stay out in the sun. The area along the promenade, about 10 kilometres long, was clean and had plenty of trees and grass which were obviously well looked after. There were water points along the promenade for people to wash off the sand and sea water before going home.

All along the promenade there were new huge hotel complexes being built, many with gardens and water features. This place is kind of like Blackpool but to a much higher standard and is considered to be the main holiday place for the Vietnamese.

Photographs of the city

Sunrise

Sunrise

The beach

The beach

The street along the beach

Tram Huong Tower

The fishing fleet area

The fishing fleet area

Looking towards the city

The cable car to the theme park

Overloaded, but normal!

A hearse going past

Not me in disguise

The street stall where I had breakfast

                                           

Tran Quoc Tuan

Tran Quoc Tuan was the Army Vietnamese Commander-in-Chief of Vietnam in the 8th century and fought off the Mongols when they tried to invade Vietnam.

Tran Quoc Tuan Temple

 

Inside the Tran Quoc Tuan Temple

The Concert Hall

             
Nghia Minh Pagoda