A Must Visit In Da Nang, UNESCO Site (I should have taken Grab)

Video Description

You can find Jovan here @jovansewell One way to boost your confidence throughout your life is to set yourself challenges each month. Stuff you’ve never done before and never thought about attempting either. This makes the challenge a bit arbitrary, a bit unconventional. Why would you attempt cycling when you don’t even enjoy cycling? It pushes your mind more than your body and that’s what keeps me growing. I hate being stagnant or just simply doing the things I enjoy over and over again. I want to push my mind out of the comfort zone and attempt things that are less desirable for me! Hence the challenge of cycling 100km in a day. I don’t really like cycling. My dad made me cycle a lot as a kid, 4 hour bike rides every Sunday. He’s that sort of guy. So now it’s a full 360 to be cycling in a country 5000 miles away from him, without him, on my own accord! A sort of Big girl feeling. I hope this inspires you to set yourself small challenges that lead up to some big ones! In this video we start in Da nang, Vietnam and attempt to ride 50km to My Son Sanctuary AND back. The total ride should be just over 100km. I’ll be attempting this challenge with my partner H and our friend Jovan. My Son Sanctuary (pronounced “Mee Sun”) is one of the most important archaeological sites in Vietnam and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located about 45–50km from Da Nang and 35km from Hoi An, this ancient complex was once the spiritual and political capital of the Champa Kingdom, a Hindu civilisation that ruled parts of Central and Southern Vietnam for over 1,500 years. Built between the 4th and 14th centuries, the temple group was constructed using a unique brick-masonry technique that still confuses archaeologists today — the bricks fit perfectly without visible mortar, and the structures have survived monsoons, humidity, and war. Mỹ Sơn is often compared to smaller versions of Angkor Wat (Cambodia) or the Bagan temples (Myanmar), but it has its own distinct architectural style and spiritual atmosphere. The sanctuary is divided into groups labelled A through H. Each group contains towers (kalan), meditation rooms, gateways, and altars used for royal rituals. The Champa people were heavily influenced by Indian culture, which is why the site is filled with Hindu iconography. My Son was heavily bombed during the Vietnam/American War, and many temples were destroyed, but several well-preserved structures remain. Today, restoration teams from Vietnam, Italy, India, and other countries are working together to preserve what’s left and stabilise the damaged towers. For travellers, My Son is one of the top attractions near Da Nang and Hoi An. It’s small enough to explore in 1–2 hours but rich enough to leave a lasting impression. Cycling to My Son added an extra layer of meaning to the experience. After enduring hours of pedalling sat on a pretty unconfortable seat, riding over some pretty uncomfortable terrain, arriving at a centuries-old temple complex built by an entirely different civilisation feels deeply symbolic. It’s like travelling through time — from modern Vietnam back to the ancient world — using your own strength. We didn’t know what the ruins were or what they meant. We definitely had no idea it was a Unesco World Heritage Site. So to our surprise it was huge, exciting and a much deeper point of interest than we assumed it to be. I’m not a big history fan, there’s only certain types of history I find interesting so I was shocked myself that I found this to be exhilarating and beautiful to see. You really do feel like you’re going back in time to a different tribe, a different culture, you can put yourself in the same places they lived and walked, it’s so surreal!! Anyway, back to the cycling. This bike ride represented EXACTLY what I wanted bike rides in Vietnam to look like. Cycling in Da Nang is hectic, probably the same in every city in Vietnam. There’s so much traffic, noice and pollution, you aren’t really getting a peaceful ride you’re just hammering along the side of the road inhaling all the fumes whilst trying to enjoy the beach view for example. Well, on this ride, we rode deeper into Vietnam. The deepest any of us have gotten and it was so worth it. We did have to cycle along some typically busy Vietnamese roads but a lot of the cycle ride down was in and out of fields. We saw elderly women working in the fields, wearing the traditional hats everywhere. We rode through smaller villages, it was really peaceful. I’m not sure whether we would do it again but it was definitely worth it! #vietnam #travel #fitnesschallenge #cycling 100km ride, cycling challenge, fitness challenge, riding in Vietnam, cycling in Vietnam