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One of the most charming coastal town in Vietnam is Nha Trang. The place located 450km north of HCM City. Bordered by a long beach of white sand and coconut trees. The most favourite location may be the main street of the town which runs parallel to the 6-km long beach, offering cool breezes to the large colonial-style buildings, villas and hotels on the other side. Moreover, visitors can enjoy visits to off-shore islets, Cham towers and hot springs. It is also an ideal place for water sports such as scuba diving, snorkeling, jet skiing, wind surfing, etc
Location: Tam Island is located in Vinh Nguyen Ward, to the south of Nha Trang Bay, 3 nautical miles from Nha Trang Port, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: Tam Island offers many kinds of water sports such as jet skiing, boating, windsurfing, parachute pulling, adventure diving... Other than that, tourists can enjoy camp-fire nights on the fascinating island.
Carpeted with a green tropical forest throughout 4 seasons, the long sandy coastline winds like a mermaid exposing the smoothness of the Creator by thousands of pampering waves onto the shore all day and night. Underneath the uneven cliffs is the blue water as clear as crystal abounds with many kinds of coral reefs blooming in hundred-pink and thousand-purple colours, and hundreds of schools of fish swimming heartily here and there like visitors flocking to festivals. All seem to be fairy like and dreamlike.
There are 200 nice and colourful camps on the island. When attending the camp-fire, visitors will drink can wine, eat baked-meat and sing all night.
Time: From the 23rd to the 27th day of the third lunar month.
Place: Vinh Phuoc Ward, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Objects of worship: The Goddess of the Region (the Cham).
Characteristics: Rites: washing statue and clothes changing, offering dance to Goddess, ghe racing, boi singing at night.
The Po Nagar Festival is biggest religious festival in the region, is held at Po Nagar Tower which located on the hill near the mouth of Cai River, north of Nha Trang City. The festival is organize to commemorate the Mother of the Region who according to Cham legends, created the homeland, maintained race, discoved rice tree, taught people how to cultivate. The Goddess of the Cham had become the Goddess of the Vietnamese inhabitants. The festival involves the singing and dancing to welcome people, stage performance and many fun games take place joyfully in the front of the main temple.
Location: Dam Market is located at 9 Bloc B, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: Dam Market is a Trade Center of Nha Trang with all types of local goods, domestic and foreign articles especially dried sea foods.
Located in the city center of Nha Trang, the market is lively and vibrant with merchants selling their merchandises. The Dam Market itself is a circular three-story building. In the middle locate the souvenir shops. Outside is teemed with cap, hat, and dress shops, and behind the market is the fresh food market.
The total of kiosks, goods stalls, stores, sideboards, vehicles is over 1,500 households (exclusive over 500 households buying and selling miscellaneous collection of goods).
Location: Po Nagar Cham is situated on Cu Lao marble hill, 2km north of Nha Trang, in Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: Po Nagar Cham Towers were built between the 8th and 13th centuries. The largest of the four remaining towers was built in honour of the Goddess Po Nagar, also known as Lady Thien Y Ana or Lady Mother of the Kingdom.
She spent part of her life in teaching new weaving and agricultural techniques. The 22.5m tower contains her sandstone statue sitting cross-legged on lotus-shaped stone estrade. The statue is 2.6m high (including the Yoni-shaped stone pedestal). The statue has ten hands, eight of which each holding a specific object illustrating the intellect and power of her. The remaining towers were dedicated to different gods: the southeast tower, the northwest tower and the south tower.
Not only are the towers famous for their architecture and sculpture, but they are also well-known for their great significance in history, nationalism, and archaeology.
Standing on the top of the hill, one can admire the beautiful landscapes of the coastal region of Nha Trang.
Location: Long Son Pagoda is situated at the foot of Mount Trai Thuy at 22, 23/10 Street, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: The pagoda was first built on Mount Trai Thuy in 1886 and named Dang Long Pagoda. In 1900, the pagoda was damaged in a storm and was rebuilt down the mountain in its present location.
The Khanh Hoa Buddhist Studies Foundation originated here in 1936. The pagoda underwent further restorations in 1940, 1971, and 1975.
There is a huge white statue of Sakyamuni Buddha sitting on a lotus pedestal, which erected in 1964-1965, 24m high not including its pedestal being 14m high.
This pagoda is one of the more than 20 famous pagodas in Nha Trang City.
Location: Institute of Oceanography is located on an elevated land, at 1 Cau Da St., next to Cau Da Wharf, about 6km from the centre of Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: Institute of Oceanography, which was established in 1923, was one of the first centres for scientific research in Vietnam.
Nha Trang is an excellent location for tropical oceanographic research because it is close to the ocean, of course, and the waters are deep.
The Marine Animal Museum shows more than 20,000 sea and freshwater specimens, as well as living creatures that are kept in glass tanks.
Location: Tri Nguyen Aquarium is situated on Bong Nguyen Island, also called Hon Mieu Island, Nha Trang Bay; half an hour from Cau Da Port, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: It is a lake on the sea which people dam up with stone embankment. Hundreds of nice and precious marine creatures are bred in the lake, looking a real marine museum.
Visitors may take a walk around the lake or seating on the house close to the edge of the water, they can see many kinds of colourful sea-fish that live in the clear blue water of the lake.
In the island also has Bai San Beach, one of the beaches that are attractive to many visitors.
Location: Van Phong Bay is located 50km from Nha Trang toward the north.
Characteristic: There is a sand hill that is 18km long, situated between the main land and two islets creating a bay with a very beautiful landscape. There are many forms of water sports and uphill tourism here, including sea diving, water skiing, sail boating, mineral water bathing and hunting.
Location: Hon Mun Island is situated on the south of Nha Trang Bay, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: Named Hon Mun because in the south east of the island, it has high-rise cliffs with dangerous wattles forming caves and grottoes, especially its stones are as black as ebony, which could rarely be found in other areas.
In the black-stone caves of Hon Mun, every year flocks of swallow migrate to the area and build their nests. Due to the island's location adjacent to the hot sea-currents from the equator, suitable to the development conditions of corals and various types of tropical sea creatures, the sea bed of Hon Mun is home to an abundant and diverse group of marine species, an interesting and useful place for researchers, oceanographers and tourists to observe and explore more of the sea creatures' life.
In Hon Mun, visitors can dive or take grass-bottom boat to admire the colour coral and sea creatures.
Location: Hon Chong is located 3.5km from the centre of Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: It consists of massive rocks lying on top of one another.
Hon Chong is divided into two parts. One part is situated offshore and the other is in the sand dunes at the Cu Lao fishing hamlet. The offshore cluster includes layer after layer of massive rock emerging from the sea. These layers of rocks act as natural wave breakers.
The Hon Chong Promontory, located in the sand dunes, looks like the work of a giant, who carelessly put several massive rocks together. On one side of the rock, facing the sea, there is a deep handprint with the five fingers close together.
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