Departure from Hue for Ninh Binh, the fourth stage of this lightning trip to Vietnam.

I chose to leave with the night train. This is the most economical and convenient way to travel this distance of 580 kms. Small disadvantage: the night train leaves at 4 p.m. from Hué and arrives at Ninh Bình at 3 a.m. I’m booking a second-class berth. It could be comfortable, except for two details: the train makes a hellish noise, but it’s nothing compared to my neighbour who snores like a bell ringer.

In short, I don’t sleep and I arrive a little slammed at Ninh Bình at 3 a.m. Fortunately, the owner of the central hotel, which is located a few metres from the station, is used to it and comes to open it for me.

I collapse on a good bed until the morning but I still get up early (7 am) because I expect a big day.

During breakfast, I organise a tour with the advice of the boss who orders me a driver for the day and recommends the three main sites according to her.

The driver who will drive me to each of the sites speaks correct English. It’s nice. On the other hand, her 4X4 no longer has suspension at all and I would tell my host in the evening that she should no longer offer this vehicle which is the most uncomfortable I have ever used.

Trang An

It’s a completely extraordinary place. My eyes are wide from one end to the other, despite the very large influx of tourists, almost exclusively Vietnamese by the way. It’s an indescribable place, you really have to go there, a three-hour walk in lake valleys connected by caves. A historic place since it is in these valleys that the Vietnamese took refuge to fight against the Mongols.

In every valley, islands, temples. It’s fabulous, a real universe of tales.

Hoa Lu

The second step proposed by my guide is on the other hand quite disappointing. It is the first capital of Vietnam with temples dating from the 10th century but apart from the historical interest, there is really not much to see.

The Pagoda of Bai Dinh

There, it’s still a great show. A pagoda consisting of several huge buildings on a no less huge site. Hundreds of statues, all different. Kilometres of corridors, hundreds of little buddhas locked in niches, a huge tower. Truly a place that must be seen and travelled. It’s quite tiring because it goes up quite a bit and it takes several hours to go around the site.

An exhausting day, but images full of eyes. I go back to the hotel exhausted, especially since the night before I only slept four hours.

I finally decide not to stay any longer in Ninh Bình and leave for Halong Bay, because I think I have seen the essentials.

The next morning I sack my bag and get on what the owner of the hotel calls a limousine bus, which is a minibus a little more comfortable but driven by someone in mental health is subject to question. Frankly, it is better not to look ahead and try to enjoy the landscape on the sides, which is absolutely not the concern of the four Englishmen who occupy this vehicle with me, since all four will spend these almost 3 hours of travel with their noses on their mobile phones. Well, it’s a conception of the journey of discovery.

Arrival in Tuan Chau in Halong Bay in the late morning.