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Getting Ripped off in yet another Town

Phan Rang Travel Blog | Travelogue | Travel Journal

My Backpacking Journey through Southeast Asia at the end of 2006 and into 2007. The ups and downs of my trip and the many beautiful places I visited. Trully an Experience in a lifetime!
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Getting Ripped off in yet another Town

November 21, 2006
Po Klang Garai, Cham ruins
The bus was 2 hours late GRRRRRR... I arrived at Phan Rang, and jumped off the bus alone as everyone else was headed to Nha Trang. As I arrived I came upon my second scam in Vietnam. The blardy motodrive the lying son of a bitch claimed that the hotel I wanted to go to was 7km away and requested 30,000 Dong. Of course I tried bargaining it down to 10 or 15 but he refused. We settled on 20,000, but guess what the ride was less than a kilometre and of course I had to pay the 20,000 because we "agreed" on the price beforehand.

I couldn't do much as it was already dark when I arrived, and the fact that I did not know where I was dropped off... ARGHHHHHH.. The ride should of only cost 5000 Dong, 8000 MAX. I know it's only $1.
View from Po Klang Garai
50 (20,000 Dong), BUT ITS THE PRINCIPLE!!!!!!!

The following morning it took quite a while to get the point across to my xe om that I wanted to visit all 3 Cham towers around the province. It was even harder to negotiate the price, as he seemed to refuse to talk, even in Vietnamese!!!

Anyhow after some map looking and bargaining in Vietnamese, I managed to get the price I was comfortable with at 120,000 for a 60km or so journey.

We paid a visit to the main site which was located within the city Po Klang Garai towers. The site has been developed to a great extent to cater for foreigners and locals alike. The tower itself had a beautiful backdrop of the mountains in the distance and modern architecture in the foreground utilizing the Cham style.
Po Klang Garai


Our next pitstop was Poremi Towers, located 15km out in the countryside, and literally in the middle of no where! Vietnam has soo many impressive environments, around this temple it seemed very rugged and dry, almost like the outback in Australia! We weaved through the local villages and then came across a sign 500metres pointing inwards, directing us to the base of the hill. The tower was in great condition as it has also been restored like the Po Klang Garai towers in town.

The final destination was the Hao Lai towers, located 15km towards Nha Trang. It was in a very poor state, however it seems that the government, or someones found the initiative to restore the centuries old towers. From what it seems it seems like most of the towers going to be utilizing new bricks! Yuck! heheh... The 2 remaining towers (originally there were 3), the North and the South are not in the typical Cham style, what's left of the towers show that it has some Khmer influence, left by the Khmers when Champa was once under Khmer rule.
Po Klang Garai, Cham ruins
View from Po Klang Garai
Po Klang Garai
Po Klang Garai
Caretaker at Hao Lai Towers
Hao Lai Towers
15,483 km (9,621 miles) traveled
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