Vietnam's Ancient Sights

Vietnam’s Cham ruins are remnants harken back a thousand years to one of the regions most powerful ancient civilizations. While there are still ethnic Cham people in Vietnam, they have mostly assimilated with other Vietnamese. Their language, closer to Malay than Vietnamese, is still spoken by some of the 100,000 ethnic Cham in Vietnam.

These people are descended from the powerful kingdom of Champa, which ruled Coastal Vietnam from 800s until the end of the 15th century.

What remains today, scattered around central vietnam, in museums and historic sites, are relics of this ancient renaissance. Because the people of Champa were Hindu, many of their artifacts are closer to what one might see in India or Cambodia, as opposed to the chinese-influenced world of historical Vietnam.

Near Phan Rang, there are several remaining Cham towers worth visiting. These sites are typically not crowded, except with bats (don’t worry, they’re nocturnal, mostly). Cham towers are all similar in appearance. They are square in shape, layered towards the top, and contain many intricate statues and relief carvings. Finding some of the more out of the way towers can be exciting because you will surely be the only visitor on a given day. You can even fantasize that you are Indiana Jones.

Using Phan Rang as a base, you can see numerous towers. The structures of Po Klong Garai are perhaps the best known of these towers. A guide will be able to show you an inscription on a nearby hillside was made by a Cham king. The lettering is over 1000 years old. Po Klong Garai is located near the main thoroughfare of HIghway 6.

The Po Nagar Cham Towers, located near beach town Nha Trang are much more crowded than the other locations mentioned in the article, but the buildings themselves are no less authentic. Any taxi driver will know this site as it is a main attraction for foreigners and Vietnamese alike.

There are museums, most notably in Da Nang, where some of most intact artifacts from Champa are housed. There is a slight fee to enter the museum, but it is well worth it. And there are no bats.

The Cham Museum is located at the intersection of Trung Nu Vuong and Bach Dang streets in Da Nang. It was started by the French early in the 20th century. Some of the statues and artifacts are more than 1500 years old.

For fans of history, a trip to Vietnam would not be complete without a trip to at least one of these ancient sites. The ruins and museums are usually not crowded, making visitors feel as close to this ancient kingdom as possible.