With some regret, we had therefore booked our bus for this evening, regret because we were sometimes on the verge of boredom.
However, Nha Trang has some interesting spots. Like its bay with the fishing village and the Po Nagar Cham towers (named after the goddess to whom the temple is dedicated), built between the 7th and 12th centuries. This is where we went first for this day marking the middle of our stay.
The Chams and Vietnam
The Chams were the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Champa, a state of Hindu culture that roughly included the southern part of present-day Vietnam, the north remaining the Kingdom of Dai Viet until the early 1832th century when it became Vietnam, which in XNUMX conquered the last remaining Cham stronghold at Nha Trang.
If there are still a few Chams today (500 spread across the world, so more than half in Cambodia and 000% are in Asia, see more information on this people here), these became Muslims, but kept some of their traditions.
Po Nagar Towers
The place has been seriously renovated (a small museum with photos from before allows you to better see this).
The atmosphere is quite calm. The towers are similar but remain different from the ruins of temples of Hindu origin that I have come across in Thailand.
Here, we came across a Vietnamese family, mother, grandmother and granddaughter who we swear wanted to pass their little girl on to us, because despite the possible misinterpretation due to the language barrier, Jitima and I understood the same thing...
Meeting the people of Nha Trang
The site is quite small and you quickly go around the small hill, on which the towers sit. So we walked along the port, where there was a small beach.
There, fishermen were spreading seaweed to dry. We passed smiling kids on bikes, people who seemed to be homeless, also greeting us with smiles.
We crossed unpaved streets, mainly used by bicycles, then, back towards the main beach, 3 km away, we stopped for a bit. I looked at this beach photographer, waiting for clients, telling myself that this is the kind of job that will probably disappear, at a time when digital photography is booming.
A bit of French gastronomy in Vietnam!
Not having much to do after this visit, we decided, even if it was still a little early, to go eat... At least that will keep us busy a little...
We had spotted a nice place for eating (Tran Quang Khai) and decided to try a French restaurant which offers prices as attractive as the menu.
Tempting indeed, besides the pleasant little terrace the menu is enjoyable and I opted for a beef bourguignon accompanied by a gratin dauphinois while Jitima will have a ratatouille with fish.
It was honestly well made, good taste, so it was well worth it (80.000 Dong on average for a dish, that's around 160 baht, or 3.5 euros).
Next stop – Hoi An
Full and happy (although a little disappointed not to have found this restaurant before!) we return to our hotel and pack up, it is time to leave here, heading for a stopover that was close to Jitima's heart and I was eager to see what it was like.
We take a night bus, which is therefore equipped with a sort of semi-reclining bunk.
It sounds interesting and potentially comfortable, but I quickly realize that for someone too tall (although with my 1m80, I'm not a giant either), the space for the feet is much too small, especially since you have to put your backpack somewhere (the one containing things like camera, documents etc., not the big travel bag though, there are holds for that).
