Cham Towers and Quang Trung Museum. 15 May 2008.

Guess what is on the menu here? Actually they are pickled in jars rather than served for lunch.

There are all sort s of treats here

Some of the treats that I didn't try

Cham Towers

Cham Towers and Quang Trung Museum. 15 May 2008.

Within Quy Nhon and on some of the surrounding hill tops there are towers built by the Cham people in the 11th or 12th century. They are built from bricks and present a very impressive silhouette on the skyline. It is thought that they were likely to be a form of watchtower. We had the opportunity to visit one of these sites today as part of our orientation. Seemingly just in time, they are in the process of being restored which is undoubtedly very important but the resultant scaffolding and debris did detract somewhat from the aesthetics of the site.

After the towers we went to the Quang Trung Museum which celebrates the triumphs of three brothers who led a peasant revolution against the Chinese invaders in the late 18th century. The displays were fairly static and without much information in English but parts of it were really interesting. There was a huge drum made from elephant skin – I was tempted to give it a little try but managed to restrain myself. In a shrine there were impressive gold statues of the brothers and other people. The faces of the statues were very individual and conveyed an image of great strength and determination.

Outside there was a traditional house of one of the local ethnic peoples that had been moved on to the site. It is an extraordinary construction. Built long and narrow up on stilts it has a steeply pitched thatched roof running the length of the building. I would like to learn much more about the interesting decorative designs on the walls and a tall bamboo structure outside. It had tall poles with colorful triangular woven shapes suspended on each side. It was difficult to find out much about it but I think that it was used for tethering buffalo before ritual slaughter. Inside the building a helpful guide turned on an artificial fireplace that had billowing red fabric flames to add to the atmosphere – “fabulous”!

At the end of our tour we watched members of a local Bahnar ethnic group perform drum music, dances and martial arts. The drums were reminiscent of the Japanese drummers I have enjoyed on a numbers of occasions in Hamilton. I love the way the beat goes right through your body and could have listened to it for much longer. The rest of the performance was the usual packaged “cultural experience” but as this was my first opportunity to see anything of the traditions of these groups I enjoyed it anyway. The martial arts performance included stick fighting that was very similar to the use of taiaha. Since writing this part I have talked with Maris about the ethnic communities of the neighboring province. She says that they have an Austronesian based language and that there are some words like “ika” for fish that are the same as Te Reo Maori. Apparently when she was visiting in that area she could see strong connections between this culture and Pacific and Maori cultures. If the NZ ece programme moves into this region there could be a strong case for building links with pacific Island Language Nests or Kohanga Reo.

Overall I enjoyed these visits a lot but I do find the lack of depth of information available onsite in English in my Lonely Planet a bit frustrating. When I get a chance I will go and see if the museum in Quy Nhon has more information.