NHA TRANG

Nha Trang, the capital city of Khanh Hoa province with a population of about 250,000, is 450 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. Nha Trang City is the most picturesque coastal town and the nicest beach resort of all in Vietnam, equipped with rather perfect infrastructure. To the East Sea, Nha Trang City is bordered by a charming white-sand beach which stretches 7 km, semi-circle shaped and coconut palm fringed. The turquoise water around update Trang City is almost transparent; it is excellent for swimming, fishing, snorkelling and scuba diving. Along the seashore, there are many good hotels and restaurants serving special dishes and delicious seafood. Its many offshore islands provide the wonderful places for tourist and discovery activities.

 

The City receives a great number of sunny hours, and it is therefore wonderful for sea swimming and sunbathing.

 

Nha Trang's Pasteur Institute
The Institute was founded in 1895 by Dr. Alexandre Yersin, who came to Vietnam in 1889 and spent many years of his life in this region. Doctor Yersin spent four years travelling throughout the central highlands of  Vietnam and recording his observations. He is the person who recommended the site of what is today Dalat.

 

Nha Trang Pasteur Institute produces vaccines and carries out research in microbiology, virology and epidemiology. Dr. Yersin's library and office are now a museum where his picture, laboratory equipment, some of his personal effects and other items are displayed. Inside the institute, there is a library to keep many of his books and other scientist journals. Dr. Yersin died in Nha Trang in 1943 and was buried here. His grave is located on a hill in Dien Khanh District.

 

Nha Trang  Cathedral

The Cathedral was constructed between 1928 and 1934 in the French Gothic style, on a small hill in the heart of the city. The whole structure is built of cement blocks with three large bells provided by the Bourdons Carillons Company in 1934. The church is attractive for it elegance, space and serenity. Sunday masses are held at 5 am and 7 am and 4:30 PM.

 

Oceanographic institute

Oceanographic Institute, 6 km south of central Nha Trang, was founded in 1923 and is one of the first centres of scientific research in Vietnam. At the ground floor, there is an aquarium with 23 glass tanks to house a variety of live specimens of the local marine life, more than 8,000 species. Behind the main building is a large room filled with 60,000 dead specimens of sea life, including a big whale's skeleton which is still intact.

 


Ponaga Cham Towers

This is a group of seven Cham Temples; four of which still remain, the others were destroyed. Po Naga Cham Towers were built between the 7th and 12th centuries on a granite hill on the left bank of the Cai River. All the towers are east-faced and built of distinctive kind of red bricks.

 

The 23 m-high North Tower, the main one, with its terraced pyramidal roof, vaulted interior masonry and vestibule, is a superb example of Cham architecture. It was built in 817 AD In the main chamber, there is a black stone statue of the goddess Uma, Lady Po Naga, with 10arms.
 

  The central tower was built in the 12th century on the site of a structure dating from the 7th century. There is a linga inside the main chamber.

The South Tower is dedicated to the god Shiva and also shelters a linga.

The richly ornamented North-west Tower is dedicated to Ganesha, whose human body is attached to an elephant head.

 

Chong Promontory ( Hon Chong )

Hon Chong is a narrow granite promontory that juts out into the turquoise waters of the East Sea. To the northwest is the Co Tien Mountain (Fairy Mountain) consisting of three summits and looking like a reclining fairy. There is a gargantuan handprint on the massive boulder balanced at the tip of the promontory. According to local legend, it was made by a drunk male giant fairy when he fell down upon spying a female fairy bathing nude at Bai Tien Beach (Fairy Beach). Despite the force of his fall, the giant managed to get up and eventually catch the fairy. They became a nice couple, but soon the gods intervened and punished the male fairy, sending him off to a "re-education camp" for an indefinite sentence. The love-sick fairy waited patiently for her husband to come back, but after a very long time, despairing that he might never return, she lay down in sorrow and turned into Co Tien Mountain (Fairy Mountain). When the husband fairy finally returned and saw what had become of his wife, he prostrated himself in grief next to the boulder with his handprint on it. He, too, turned into what is the Hon Chong (Husband Promontory) nowadays.