{"id":341,"date":"2021-06-28T05:24:52","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T05:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/?p=341"},"modified":"2021-06-28T14:15:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T14:15:45","slug":"more-to-see-in-the-central-of-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/more-to-see-in-the-central-of-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"More to see in the Central of Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Phong Nha Cave – Image by dietmarlaschinski from Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

In the previous blog post, I took you briefly to visit Hue and Hoi An, the two well known locations for tourists worth exploring. Continuing on the tour of central Vietnam, don\u2019t miss the chance to see two more UNESCO Di s\u1ea3n th\u1ebf gi\u1edbi<\/em> (Word Heritage) sites: Th\u00e1nh<\/em> \u0111\u1ecba M\u1ef9 S\u01a1n<\/em> (My Son Sanctuary) and V\u01b0\u1eddn qu\u1ed1c gia Phong Nha \u2013 K\u1ebb B\u00e0ng<\/em> (Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park). Save the best for last. Among all eight UNESCO world heritage sites in Vietnam, in my opinion, these two sites are the must to see if you plan to visit Vietnam. You\u2019ll know why I said that after finishing reading my blog. Let me know if you agree with me by leaving comments below.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Th\u00e1nh<\/em><\/strong> \u0111\u1ecba M\u1ef9 S\u01a1n<\/em><\/strong> (My Son Sanctuary<\/strong>) <\/strong><\/p>\n

Th\u00e1nh<\/em> \u0111\u1ecba M\u1ef9 S\u01a1n<\/em> was recognized as a UNESCO cultural heritage site in 1999. It is is in Quang Nam province, just over an hour drive by car from Hoi An old town. What made this site very interesting is that it is completely different than any other UNESCO cultural site you have seen in the north or in the central. You would have thought you are in a different country with different culture and beliefs. While Buddhism is a major religion in Vietnam and once was the national religion in the past, with many existing pagodas throughout the country, what you find in Th\u00e1nh<\/em> \u0111\u1ecba M\u1ef9 S\u01a1n<\/em> is a series of ancient Hindu temples. You are not wrong to feel that you are in a different part of the world, not in Vietnam.\u00a0 That was because this part belonged to Champa, a country that had been wiped out by the Vietnamese by the 14th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

At Th\u00e1nh<\/em> \u0111\u1ecba M\u1ef9 S\u01a1n<\/em>, you will find monuments and artifacts dating from the 1st<\/sup> century to the 14th<\/sup> century. The sanctuary was probably built between the 4th <\/sup>\u00a0and 13th<\/sup> centuries. Built by the Cham people over a span of ten centuries, the architecture of the temples is remarkable and unique. According to the text from the unesco.org website, \u201cthe monuments are unique and without equal in Southeast Asia<\/em>\u201d. To date, most are ruins, but a few remain intact.<\/p>\n

To me, what made it interesting is the technique that the Cham people used to build their temples. How did they stack bricks or sandstones on top of each other to build the temples or towers without using any mortar or binder? You tell me. When I was there for a visit, the tour guide showed me how to differentiate between the original section and the restored part. If you see the brick color is faded and has moss on it, it\u2019s a restoration. The original would have brighter colors and no moss growing between layers. According to the tour guide, the ancient Cham probably used some kind of sap from the tree to bind the bricks together, thus there was no gap between, so moss doesn\u2019t grow on it.<\/p>\n

Have you heard about the sacred icons \u201cLinga\u201d and \u201cYoni\u201d? I don\u2019t know much about Hinduism so I better let you \u201cgoogle\u201d or \u201cWiki\u201d it, instead of reading my explanation. You will find a lot of these relics on the site.<\/p>\n

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My Son Sanctuary – Photo by Steve Douglas on Unsplash<\/p>\n

2. V\u01b0\u1eddn qu\u1ed1c gia Phong Nha \u2013 K\u1ebb B\u00e0ng<\/em><\/strong> (Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park<\/strong>). <\/strong><\/p>\n

UNESCO recognized this site as a world natural heritage site in 2003. This v\u01b0\u1edfn qu\u1ed1c gia<\/em> (national park) is huge and has a shared border with the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos. What I love about this park is that it has everything you can think of to enjoy: a lush green forest, the mountains, a river, hiking trails, and beautiful caves.<\/p>\n

This v\u01b0\u1edfn qu\u1ed1c gia<\/em> is in Quang Binh province, far from all other popular tourist sites. Therefore, it\u2019s a bit inconvenient to visit. However, it\u2019s worth it to make a trip here. Make sure to see \u0111\u1ed9ng<\/em> (cave) Phong Nha. I have seen lots of different \u0111\u1ed9ng<\/em> in both the United States and in Vietnam, but this is my favorite one because it\u2019s a mountain river cave and it\u2019s large.<\/p>\n

Do you know where the world\u2019s largest cave is? It\u2019s the Son Doong cave in this park! Well, it\u2019s very expensive and there is a long waiting list to get into this cave. Good luck if you try to do it.<\/p>\n

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Phong Nha Cave – Photo taken and used with permission from Kandle Dart<\/p>\n

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River to Phong Nha Cave – Photo taken and used with permission from Kandle Dart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

In the previous blog post, I took you briefly to visit Hue and Hoi An, the two well known locations for tourists worth exploring. Continuing on the tour of central Vietnam, don\u2019t miss the chance to see two more UNESCO Di s\u1ea3n th\u1ebf gi\u1edbi (Word Heritage) sites: Th\u00e1nh \u0111\u1ecba M\u1ef9 S\u01a1n (My Son Sanctuary) and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,178,550922,13],"tags":[550953,550954,550952,550956,550957,550958,550955,550959,550949,550960],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history","category-travel","category-vocabulary","tag-cham","tag-champa","tag-my-son-sanctuary","tag-phong-nha-cave","tag-quang-binh","tag-quang-nam","tag-son-doong-cave","tag-touring-the-central","tag-unesco-world-heritage","tag-vietnam-attractions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions\/364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/vietnamese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}