Footsteps walking towards The Thousand-Year-Old Banyan Tree in Son Tra ( Da Nang )

Hello everyone! How are you today? Only 5 days left, we will end in 2021. On the last days of the year, my job will be more and today, is also the last Sunday of 2021. The weekend period is valuable, helps me recharge my positive energies, for a new week. Last weekend I had a solo trip and in today's post, I will introduce to everyone a very famous place in Da Nang, which is the heritage banyan tree of the Son Tra peninsula. Da Nang is one of the places that attract a lot of domestic and foreign tourists. Here people are gentle, with sincerity and hospitality. Because of that, Da Nang is known as t-he most livable city in Vietnam. Da Nang is also one of the cities with beautiful scenery with beautiful beaches stretching along the sand and blue water. But just talking about the sea cannot fully describe the beauty of Da Nang city, because it also has many beautiful rivers, streams, and mountains, surrounding the city

Where is the location of the thousand-year-old banyan tree?
The thousand-year-old banyan tree is located on the Son Tra peninsula. About 20km from Da Nang city center to the east of the city, to get here, we can go by many different means such as self-driving and motorbikes. In addition, we can also go by bus, there will be daily trips to help tourists visit the Son Tra peninsula. A small note is that when we come here, we will be banned and cannot go to the peninsula by scooter. With pass roads, steep slopes, and very slippery roads. So here it is easy to lose the brake and there have been many accidents with scooters. So now Da Nang has banned this vehicle to visit the peninsula. Starting from the dragon bridge, move out towards the direction of My Khe beach. Follow the sea road Vo Nguyen Giap and follow the sea. Continue moving to the end of the seaway. There will be an intersection between Hoang Sa and Le Van Luong streets. Follow the right-hand direction to go up Son Tra mountain. Go about 9km to Bai Bac fork. From Bai Bac junction, it only takes about 4km more to reach the Thousand Year Old Banyan Tree.

In addition to the means to get to the Son Tra peninsula, we can also visit the Son Tra peninsula by bicycle or on foot. This weekend trip I chose walking, After parking my motorbike at the stopover, I continued my exploration. From the North Beach T-junction to reach the thousand-year-old banyan tree, it will take me about 4km. The walking path is moderate for beginners. The start time of the journey is around 2 pm, the way is mostly on concrete roads, the reason why I choose to walk is to exercise, to see the beautiful scenery of Son Tra.

Son Tra forest is a nature conservation forest and a natural forest ecosystem associated with the sea. This place is very biologically diverse, with nearly 1000 species of plants and fauna including 380 species. The image representing the Son Tra peninsula is the Douc langur, known as the primate queen. Besides, a point to note is that there are many monkeys here, when tourists visit the peninsula, they often feed the monkeys and cause the monkeys to lose their feeding habits. This leads to cases of monkeys dragging down the roadway to beg for food, causing a loss of safety for tourists when coming here. When walking on the road I can see the scenery of the mountains and the sea below are fishing boats. This place has an altitude of nearly 700m, so the temperature is quite cool, to be able to explore.

Walking in silence makes me understand more values of life, and realize how beautiful the scenery around me is and this is a psychological solution to help me balance my emotions. On the way, I only brought myself a 500ml bottle of water, a carton of milk, and a loaf of bread. That gives me the energy on the journey.

After walking for 2km, I came to another fork and on the sign, there were directions to the banyan tree 2km left. On the way, I met people who were taking pictures like me, but they were taking pictures of monkeys. On this road, there are many tall old trees, because it is winter, their leaves have begun to fall.

After walking for about 1 hour, I reached the site of the thousand-year-old banyan tree. When I arrived here, I was extremely happy to have reached this place. The banyan tree is located on the left-hand side of the forest and faces the sea. The shape of the tree is extremely large with many side branches growing out and crashing into the ground, creating a very impressive scene. In front of the old tree, there is a stone plate stating that this is a tree of the silkworm, with a height of 22m, the circumference of the tree is 85m. The age of the tree is more than 800 years. Previously, this place was a revolutionary base for two resistance wars against foreign invaders.

In the middle of the stone plate, there are two paths, to go up to the banyan tree. The steps are covered with green moss. Above the area of the banyan tree, there are rows of stone benches for visitors to rest. Going around the banyan tree many side branches are growing into the ground. Going to the main base of the banyan tree, the roots are bent and clinging to the cliffs with strange shapes, to see the intense vitality of nature here. In 2014 scientists determined the age of the tree to be 800 years old and it is also believed that the tree is over 1000 years old. From these observations, Son Tra peninsula's banyan tree has been classified into Vietnam's heritage banyan tree system, so this place is always a favorite destination for tourists and backpackers.

After going back down to the pavement, look at the signboard. Tourist attractions of Son Tra peninsula. The location of the banyan tree, located on route 1 and map 7, with yellow text. Not far away, at the end of this road, there is another famous place, which is Mui Nghe. Although not on the sightseeing map, this place is always an enchanting destination with cliffs shaped like a lion under the sea, and a cool infinity pool. Son Tra is only for visitors from 7 am and until 6 pm. So I have to come back, so I can't continue to explore this place, to introduce in today's article. But I will go on the nearest good day, to recommend this place. After visiting the thousand-year-old banyan tree, I continued the journey back to the starting point. It was also starting to get dark, looking at the whole forest, I was alone.But on the way I was extremely happy, being able to see the sunset, which is very rare in winter.

Walking is a great way to discover a new destination, a new land. Along with that, it gives me health and mental benefits. Shortly, I will have a walking tour around the Son Tra peninsula and if you are also living in Da Nang. Then we can together, explore the upcoming journey. Thank you all for reading my post, see you in the next post. Have a nice day and has a wonderful holiday coming up with your family.