The Ponagar Tower Complex

The relic complex of the Ponagar Temple Towers built in the 8th century in Vinh Phuoc Ward, Nha Trang City in Khanh Hoa Province is a typical architectural work of the Cham Pa culture which has remained intact over the years.

Thap Ba or the architectural complex of the ancient Ponagar Temple Towers is the most unique symbol of the long-standing culture of the Cham people. It is located on a hill near the Cai River, 2km to the north from the center of Nha Trang.

The Ponagar complex consists of three floors with a gate tower on the first floor which was totally destroyed. In front of the relic complex are two rows of 10 large pillars and two small pillars on the two sides. In the middle is an altar where the Cham people often organize cultural activities and solemn rites on festivals and special occasions. The second floor, called Mandapa (guest house), is the place where pilgrims can rest and prepare offerings and costumes before practising the rite. On the third floor, there are four towers, including the 23m high Ponagar Tower which is the most outstanding and highest one. The four-storey tower symbolizes the beauty, art and creativeness of the Cham people. Inside the tower, there is a statue of a goddess made of black granite, 2.6m high, sitting on a lotus-shaped stone base, leaning back on a large fig leaf-shaped stone plate.

The statue is considered a masterpiece of the Cham sculpture. The other three towers are dedicated to the Indian supreme God of Shiva and his two sons, Gods Sanhaca and Ganeca.  

The Ponagar Tower Complex. The Ponagar Temple Towers attracts a large number of foreign tourists. Two rows of large pillars in front of the relic complex. Visitors learn about the history of the Ponagar Tower Complex. The exhibition hall at the Ponagar Tower Complex.

An exhibit at Ponagar Tower Complex.

An exhibit at Ponagar Tower Complex.

The Ponagar Tower is not only a historical and cultural relic, but also a typical architectural and sculptural work of the Cham people. All the towers were built using bricks and decorated with stones and ceramics. So far, the Cham people’s technique on placing bricks tighter together without any kind of mortar or adhesive has remained a secret to researchers.

Every year, the locals organize the Thap Ba (Ponagar) Festival from March 20th to the 23rd according to the lunar calendar to praise the merits of Thien Y Thanh Mau Ana, the Goddess who reclaimed new lands, kept the race alive, found the rice and taught the local people to cultivate and make handicraft products. During the festival, many religious rites and cultural activities are held in front of the main tower, including ceremonies to pray for peace, happiness and prosperity and performances of dancing, singing and acting out old stories. 

The legendary Ponagar dance. A Cham dance is performed at the Ponagar Tower. An artistic performance at the relic complex. Cham girls perform the technique on weaving brocade.

To introduce and promote the unique cultural features of the Cham people, the management board of the Thap Ba Tower Complex invites Cham dancers and artisans to participate in some artistic programmes held on Saturday and Sunday nights to entertain tourists. Visiting the complex, tourists seem to go back to the origin of the once flourishing Cham culture.

Vietnamese cuisine to become tourism attraction

Once established, the national trademark “the World’s Kitchen” will draw people from all the five continents to explore Vietnam’s culture through local cuisine.

Vietnamese food, with a wide range of delicious dishes bearing the hallmarks of each region, is close to all Vietnamese people and even satisfies those from other countries.

Popular dishes appear on the menus of high-end hotels inside and outside the country.

It’s very important to include cuisine in tourism development plans, especially for Hanoi which boasts plentiful and delicious dishes such as pho (rice noodles served with beef or chicken), nem (spring rolls), bun thang (rice noodles with chicken, fried egg, lean meat pie), cha ca La Vong (grilled fish pies), banh cuon Thanh Tri (steamed rice rolls), pho cuon Ngu Xa (rolled rice pancakes) and banh tom Ho Tay (shrimp cakes). 

Stressing the quintessence and unique cuisine of Hanoi, Pham An Tuyet, owner of a restaurant on Ma May Street, said delicious food is the key to drawing tourists back to the country.

She said her restaurant is not only a place to introduce the gastronomy of Hanoi to tourists but also provides an opportunity for them to make Vietnamese dishes.

“Tourists have an interesting experience here as they make food by themselves and enjoy it,” she said, adding many return to thank her after they have brought Vietnamese recipes to their countries. 

However, such a tourism model like Tuyet’s restaurant is not popular, although industry insiders recognise its advantages and attractiveness.

How to develop the cuisine culture into a special tourism product and a national trademark is a hard question for tourism managers.

To realise the idea, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) recently assigned Vietravel Tourism Company to build a project to develop the Vietnamese gastronomy. 

The project is being built with concrete strategies, solutions and programmes to popularise Vietnamese food culture to the world, which will attract tourists and develop overseas Vietnamese communities’ business activities, said Vietravel CEO Nguyen Quoc Ky. 

According to Ky, a chain of restaurants will be built to introduce local dishes to tourists in Vietnam. Meanwhile, in the international arena, relevant agencies will work with associations of Vietnamese chefs to popularise the Vietnamese gastronomy and develop its image. 

In addition, Vietnamese food will be introduced at fairs and cultural events, he added. 

Once approved by the VNAT, “the World’s Kitchen” national trademark will be completed by 2020, and bring Vietnam to the world.

Provide by Vietnam travel guide

Vietnam's 10 destinations in foreigners' eyes

In your eyes, where are the most beautiful places in Vietnam? Our questions are foreign tourists responded with these images upset: the picture angle is so simple that with them – people from a distance – that’s where most Vietnam features. And more beautiful images are to carry the most emotional story through 10 most beautiful destination.

1.Son Tra peninsula, Da Nang

Having the old forest in the city centre, Son Tra peninsula is compared to the pearl of Da Nang. Coming to Son Tra, visitors can go to forest or beach when taking part in series of tour on land like exploring the old forest, visiting the peninsula by helicopter, or visiting “green space”… and participating underwater tours like going fishing with fishermen, and diving to see coral….

2. Tomb of Nguyen dynasty, Hue

These tombs are not far from Hue city centre, the most impressive is tomb of Minh Mang, Khai Dinh, Tu Duc, Thieu Tri and Dong Khanh. Each tomb has its own feature with surrounding gardens, small bridges and paths. Seeing the tomb of Khai Dinh king, you can find the weird blend of east and west architecture as well as the past and present architecture. Also, you can see unique works of porcelain.

3.Phu Quoc island, Kien Giang

This beach deserves to be in the list of the most beautiful beaches in the world. A few years ago, Nha Trang is one of the most famous beaches in Vietnam travel guide, but until now, you can know one more destination. That is the primitive beach in Phu Quoc Island. Besides the thick forests near the seashore, Phu Quoc also has long stretch of white sand, clear seawater, waterfall, and especially 99 mountains for people loving climbing. In addition, you can see coral reefs at the bottom of the sea.

4.Mekong delta, the south of Vietnam

The silt raises the level of this strip of land and makes it fertile all the year. The flora and fauna here are very abundant, the nature is still primitive. Exploring the life here with floating market and small villages along the river, as well as islands near river mouth is very interesting. The landscape is beautiful with rice fields, small streams and canals meandering around rural areas toward the sea.

5. Trạm Tôn (The port of heaven), Sa Pa

Sa Pa is a mountainous region in the northeast of Vietnam. It is known as the picturesque landscapes with mountains stretching endlessly, green valleys, traditional trade village of ethnic minorities, forest of bamboo tree, terraced field, and stunning scenery. In order to feel all the beauty here, visitors need to climb Tram Ton mountain pass that is also an interesting destination in Sa Pa. If travelers are strong enough, they can climb Phanxipang to see spectacular landscape.

6.Phong Nha Ke Bang national park, Quang Binh

This nature reserve has been listed as a world natural heritage and the largest dry cave in the world with more than 300 caves by UNESCO. Inside the cave, there is an underground river, very beautiful stalactites and stalagmites with long strips of limestone.

7.Ha Long bay, Quang Ninh

This is one of new 7 Wonders of the World. Looking down from high, Halong bay is like a huge lively water-color painting. That is wonderful works of nature, thousands of quiet rocky islands like impressive works of sculpture.

8. One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi

One pillar pagoda was built in 1049, based on Ly Thai Tong king’s dream. In his dream, he saw a Buddhist temple floating on a lotus pond. The pagoda was built by wood and stood in a small pillar, it was designed to be familiar to a blooming lotus and was carved elaborately. One pillar pagoda we see now has been rebuilt to be familiar to the first design that was not destroyed by war.

9. Đá Dĩa Rapids, Phú Yên

We can see a huge piece of wax standing on this side in front of our view, we also can see a rock forming solid pillar. Rocks here also experienced the ups and downs with the variability of nature. It has been called Da Dia because pillars of rock are arranged close together like lines of plates. Besides the value of interesting natural landscape, Da Dia is a unique phenomenon of geology in Vietnam that geologists are discovering. Rocks in Da Dia, Tuy An, are basalt rocks formed by activity of volcano 200 million years ago.

10. Ancient capital of Hue, Hue

The ancient capital of Hue has been recognized as a cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. The system of citadel here is a perfect harmony of east and west architecture, being put in the great natural scenery with symbols that is as natural as one of parts of Hue imperial city – that are Ngu Binh mountain, Huong Giang river, Gia Vien dune , Boc Thanh dune…

Relaxing at An Lam Villas Vietnam

The road from Cam Rahn airport snakes along the coast, past fleets of blue-hulled fishing boats and the beachfront hotels of Nha Trang.

North lies Da Nang and, ultimately, Hanoi, capital of the Republic of Vietnam, but an hour after leaving the airport, a signpost reading An Lam Villas signals a side road leading off Highway One.

A speedboat lies alongside a nearby jetty. We climb aboard, our suitcases follow and the driver guns the engine and sends the boat skimming across Ninh Van Bay to An Lam Villas, the latest resort to lay claim to a share of the tourist dollars flooding Vietnam. 

Accessible only by sea, An Lam Villas is part of the Epikurean stable of up-market properties made up of 35 individual villas, most of which front a lagoon and in which the accent is on low-key luxury. 

 The villas are large, the walls of the bedroom and living areas sliding back to give views across the private plunge pool and to the lagoon and the beach and bay beyond.

An open-air shower and sunken stone bath tub open off the central area which is fenced by bamboo.  At the lagoon edge, day beds stretch beneath a canopy for languid lounging of which you tend to do quite a bit.  A stand of pine trees separates the villa and the lagoon, the soft swish of the sea breeze as it moves gently through the branches a potent lullaby. Privacy is absolute and if your concept of a holiday includes hanging off the bar and making several dozen new best friends, then An Lam Villas is not for you.

On check-in, guests are asked to indicate the level of attention they require from their personal butler. Do they wish him to attend them at specific times, attend only when called or be constantly at hand.  We place Phong, a small, gentle man whose home is in Nha Trang, on standby. He offers to unpack my luggage and I assure him I am capable of doing it myself. Like most Australians, I feel a vague sense of unease when waited upon by a personal servant. 

I ask about the bicycles I have seen parked outside villas and Phong produces one within minutes. I pedal along a sandy, shaded road past well-tended herb gardens and the bamboo fencing of my fellow guests, the road rising and then turning down to the beach, the bar, restaurant and infinity swimming pool.

Empty hammocks swing in the afternoon breeze and bodies are draped across deck chairs strung out along the white sand curve of the bay.  You can do as little or as much as you like. Recommended activities include fishing, bicycle tours of Nha Trang and surrounds, boating excursions and cooking classes.

I meet the executive chef at dinner that night and the accent is unmistakable. Walk into the kitchen of almost any significant resort or hotel in Asia and you will find an Australian at the burners.

An Lam is no exception and chef Briony Crowder is a Sydney girl who has worked in London, Amsterdam, Istanbul and Thailand and was working in Melbourne when she heard about the position of executive chef with Epikurean.

She's helping train the local chefs and says there are at least two in her team who will become professional, international chefs.

"The challenge is to keep the menus interesting," she says. "We get long-stay guests and we mix the a la carte menu between Western and Vietnamese dishes. My herb garden is coming along wonderfully. Just about anything grows here except some of the European herbs such as thyme."  Phong takes us hiking to one of the two waterfalls on the resort from which it sources its fresh water.

We climb for 15 minutes, emerging on a rocky outcrop with sweeping views of the bay. On the rocks, two deck chairs sit beside a pool of spring water. "For picnics," he explains, pointing to the chairs.

There are no jet skis or parasailers at An Lam, just the steady putt-a-putt of the occasional fishing boat as its owner heads out to tend the lobster farms that dot the surrounding waters.

We stayed for three nights and two days, indolently sleeping and reading in the cool retreat of the villa or swimming and lolling on the beach.

In the mornings I stood beneath the open-air shower head, sun shining from a crystal blue sky, warm water cascading down with the only sound the gentle splatter of the shower on the stone floor.

General manager TJ Grundl-Hong, "TJ" to all, owns a nightclub in Ho Chi Minh and operates another Epikurean property on the Mekong. He has run properties throughout Europe and Asia and is as charming as he is knowledgeable.  He recommends a restaurant when we return to Ho Chi Minh. "It's the best food in Saigon and it's cheap," he says. "I'll make a reservation for you."

After three days we leave the bliss of An Lam Villas and return to Ho Chi Minh which is gradually reverting in popular usage back to its former name of Saigon. As we depart we pass a couple which TJ says has booked a villa for 40 days. As the speed boat curls away from the jetty and heads back to Nha Trang, I try to imagine 40 days cloaked in the tranquillity of Ninh Van Bay.

The mind can only encompass so much relaxation. That night we catch a cab to the Cuc Gach Quan restaurant (10 Dang Tat, Ward Tan Dinh, HCMC District 3. Ph: +84 83 848 0144).

It's in an old colonial house and overflowing with people and my waiter tells me Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were there a few weeks before. The food is some of the best I have ever eaten and the bill, with drinks, comes to about $70.