Day 156 Dragon Mountain

Today evening my bus goes to Hue, an ancient imperial city. However, since the bus only left in the evening, I had more or less the whole day. So I decided to visit a small temple on top of a mountain. For this I rented a motorcycle. I quickly realized the advantage of traveling with two. One can navigate and the other can drive. But since I was traveling alone, I had some difficulties finding the right way and I had to stop from time to time to check the map. But in the end, I found the entrance to the temple, even though my fuel reserves were smaller than I had originally hoped for. Well, that's a problem I'll deal with on the way back.

At the foot of the mountain there was a small lake and several smaller caves decorated with figures and candles.

From below you could already see the large dragon sculpture on the top of the mountain.

I want to climb up to this sculpture now. For this, 500 steps have to be climbed, at least that's what the name of the path "500 Steps Trail" means

After about two-thirds of the way, there was a junction to the lower neighboring peak. The view from here was already fantastic. The rice fields between the karst rocks and the outlines of the city in the distance. A sight that was worth the effort.

Even the dragon sculpture could be seen better from here than from below.

But I wasn't quite at my destination yet. So I climbed the last steps and when I reached the top, I was dripping wet. I was sweating in places where I didn't even know there were sweat glands. After a short rest, during which I must have lost a liter of water, judging by the small puddle on the ground beneath me, I enjoyed the view that greeted me. The dragon sculpture was almost more impressive from the neighboring peak than from here, because from here you could only see the head. But it was definitely worth coming up here.

The way down was easy.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing, as there is not much to see here now. When it was time to take the bus, I went to the meeting point. But the hotel that was mentioned to me as the meeting point did not exist. It was marked on my map, but in reality the building was missing. I searched for a while, but I found nothing. I went to another hotel, which I found somewhat nervous. The receptionist was very helpful and called the bus company. It turned out that there were two hotels with the same name in Ninh Binh and I was at the wrong one. The other one is good 10 kilometers away. And I should be there now... After further phone calls, I was picked up by another bus. From the driver's expression, he had to take a pretty detour to pick me up, as he didn't look happy at all. And he didn't speak English either, which made the whole thing a bit more complicated. After a 20-minute drive, and I have to admit I had no idea where I was going, we stopped at a rest stop. The driver gestured for me to get off here. I felt a bit uneasy just getting off here at this rest stop, but I had no choice. But on the rest stop, the other bus, which I was actually supposed to take, was waiting. All's well that ends well.