All language subtitles for Amazing.Railway.Adventures.with.Nick.Knowles.S01E03.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

'I'm travelling the world by train
on a series of incredible journeys.'

TRAIN HORN BLARES
Beat the queue.

'There will be spectacular scenery.'

It's absolutely stunning.

I genuinely can't believe I'm here.
Somebody pinch me.

'I'll meet amazing people.'

I've brought some rope
and some fruit.

'They'll push me to my limits
in extraordinary places...'

HE WHIMPERS

'..and show me astonishing sights.'

HE CHUCKLES

Oh, my word, look at that.
I'm holding a piece of real artwork.

That's ridiculously good.

I discover incredible feats
of engineering.

TRAIN HORN BLARES

I'm feeling this might be
another switch back.

'And I'll go beyond
the tourist trail

'to find out what life's like
along the track.'

I'm very rarely stuck for words,
but I have to say,

this is one of the most
gobsmacking places I've ever been.

Skal, everyone.

'These are my
Amazing Railway journeys.'

So, sit back, put your feet up
and enjoy the ride. All aboard!

It's just so much fun!

'This time, I'm in Vietnam,

'travelling a railway line
built over 100 years ago.

'I enjoy the thrill
of a front-row ticket...'

Wow! Look how close it is!

'..Find a new use
for old medicine...'

Ha-ha, so it's a hangover cure?

Yes.
HE LAUGHS

'..and fulfil a lifelong ambition.'

It is truly spectacular
and beautiful.

'The line I'm taking
was built by the French

'when Vietnam was its colony.

'It's a long, thin country,

'and my adventure starts at
the railway's most northerly point.'

This is Lao Cai station,

where my journey
through Vietnam begins,

and the reason the station's here

is because ten minutes
down the track in that direction

is China.

And there's a train due any minute.

'My journey will take me
the length of the line.

'From the Chinese border at Lao Cai,

'I'll head south
to the bustling city of Hanoi,

'and then on
to the port of Haiphong,

'where the stunning scenery
of Ha Long Bay awaits.'

Here it comes.
TRAIN HORN BLARES

'I love the way trains announce
themselves with their horns.'

I know what you're thinking -

that's a freight train,
not a passenger train.

You'd be absolutely right.

You see, when the French built
the track between 1901 and 1910,

it was to bring freight from China

all the way down
to the coast at Haiphong.

'Today, the line carries fertiliser

'and electronics
from China's booming economy,

'with foods like mango, bananas
and watermelon going the other way.

'When it was built by the French,
they intended to use it

'for shipping goods
between Europe and China.'

But very quickly,
they were making more money

out of carrying passengers
and freight,

and the reason was people from Hanoi
were escaping the heat of the city

and coming up here to the mountains
to enjoy the cooler air.

Now, my train doesn't go
until tomorrow,

so I've got a bit of time
to have a look at the mountains

and see what they came here for.

'The cooler air in these hills

'may have provided
a welcome escape

'for the wealthy citizens of Hanoi,
but they've been home

to some of Vietnam's many
indigenous groups for centuries.

'I'm here in winter.

'It may be a little misty,
but this is a good time to visit,

'because the rainy season's over,
and it's warm.'

HE SIGHS

That was a bit of a climb.
So, this is a family settlement.

There are over 50 ethnic groups
around Vietnam,

and six different ones live up here
around this area called Sapa.

'A family of the Red Dzao,

'famous for their medicines
and beautiful embroidery,

'have agreed to meet me.'

Hello.
Hello! How are you?

My name Mai Ly.
Nice to meet you.

You want to come with me
to the forest to cut the medicine?

That sounds great.
I'd love to have a go.

Yeah, and my friend come with me.

'And they've said I can try
one of their legendary herbal baths.

'But first,
we need to collect the herbs.'

Interesting commute to work.

THEY LAUGH
Yeah. Good exercise.

It is good exercise.

'So I'm heading up the hill
behind their house

'with family friend Becka
and Mai Ly.'

You cut this one?
Yeah.

This one, and then we also do
for the herbal bath.

The smell, and they are
for protect the mosquito.

Oh, protection from mosquitoes?
Yeah.

Yeah. Smells a little bit like
the sort of mosquito stuff we get.

Yeah. So, this also for the bath,
also very good for the bones.

If some people, they fall down,
to break the leg,

we can use this to put in the leg,

and then we keep about one hour,
that is good for the bone.

This is for indigo.

Oh, it's indigo, is it?
Yeah, indigo.

I've heard of indigo.

We use it to make our clothes,
like a blue colour.

You see this? We use, we make
the colour to put in our fabric.

You wanna try?
If I do your hand blue?

I hold your knife,

and then you can have to make
the leaves blue together.

Then green, after,
you keep for five, ten minutes,

and the blue come out.

OK, so if I stop now,
that'll come out blue? Yeah, stop.

That medicine,
and then we can make tea also.

So, the tea, is that...?

What does that help with?
Is that for digestion?

Good for... We make sometime,
we drink some rice wine,

and then if we got
a little bit sick,

and we have to use
that medicine for drinking.

HE LAUGHS
So it's a hangover cure?

Yeah.
HE LAUGHS

We've only come
about 100ft from your house,

and there's all these different
herbs, just straight away.

In the forest, actually,

we have about 55 different types
of herbs for the bath.

People here,
we live on the mountain.

We don't have any hospital
in the village,

and when the people get sick,

everyone, they have
to find the plant.

'Knowing which herbs could be used
as medicine was a necessity,

'but then other uses emerged, too,
like the indigo dye.'

Oh, now you see your hand
is getting blue.

HE LAUGHS
Oh, beautiful.

It's starting to turn blue.
My hand, too.

Also getting blue.
Look here, oh, both of you.

Let's see. Wow!

How long will it stay blue?

They can stay, for you,
like, a week.

SHE LAUGHS
Right. Yes.

HE LAUGHS
OK, we go back?

Yeah, let's go back.

'With the herbs collected,
it's back down the hill

'for a chance to see their homestead
- where my bath awaits.'

Come in.

I'll duck my head.
Yeah.

Careful!
Yeah.

OK. Have they got
some cooking going on? Yeah.

My friend make tofu.

Wow, that looks like hard work.
Yeah, very hard work.

Because we have the soya bean
we grow here.

Nice.
Yeah.

It's big, isn't it?
Yeah.

It's hard wood as well.
Be careful.

Yeah, I'm ducking again.
HE CHUCKLES

This is the bath house.

Oh, look at this.
Yeah, you have a bath.

We have hot water, you can try.

How hot you want?
Yeah, it's nice.

I mean, it's hot, but it's OK,
I think, yeah. That's lovely.

Well, you should go,
I should get changed,

and to be honest,
you're not gonna watch. Enjoy.

HE SIGHS

That's amazing. Smells great, too.

And apparently, it's gonna be good
for my back, for my skin,

for my bones, for my muscles,
for my joints.

It's kind of amazing, the setup
they've got here, don't you think?

I mean, subsistence farmers,

they've got everything
they need on the land to eat.

All the medical stuff they need.
In fact, they're so good at it,

people come from miles around
to get it.

You know, with all our modern ways,
we think we've got it sorted.

I'm not sure that
this isn't a better way to live.

NICK SINGS: # Nessun dorma

# Nessun dorma... #

SPLASHING

'Well, I've tasted the simple life,
and what a life!

'But it's now time
to see how the other half live.

'This is Sapa.

'Not only do the wealthy of Hanoi
come here to escape the heat,

'but tourists, too,

'travelling from all over the world
to explore the beautiful mountains,

'still using the line built
by the French all those years ago.

'To cater for the influx
of wealthy tourists,

'they've just built
a truly luxury five-star hotel.

'Fresh from my hot herbal bath,

'I'm meeting marketing manager
Alice Park.'

Hello, Alice.
Hello, Nick.

Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.

I'm very excited to see the hotel.
Excited to show you around.

So, Nick,
welcome to Hotel de la Coupole.

Wow! Look at this!

Indeed.
I was not expecting this.

I really was not expecting this.

Thank you.
HE CH UCKLES

Le Grand Bassin -
literally means "grand bathtub".

I'm absolutely gobsmacked.
I mean, it's just so opulent.

Look at the chandeliers
over the pool.

So, they must have spent
a lot of money on this?

How much did it cost
to build the hotel?

If I'm not mistaken, 250 million.

'That's dollars,
which is over £200 million.'

Wow, that's a real statement,
isn't it?

An equally grand bar.

Who was the designer?

Bill Bensley.
He's American, Harvard graduate.

He called himself "maximalist".
Yeah.

I like that, though.
Rather than minimalist, maximalist.

I mean, it has, you know,

glass tiles on the ceiling
to reflect the light,

the big chandeliers, the uniforms.
The whole thing makes me feel,

like, you know, like,
Murder On The Orient Express.

Oh, right, yes.
It's like that in a hotel.

'So, what about the rooms?'

Thank you for showing me around.
Come and have a look.

Woo-hoo, look at this!

'Quite a change from a bath
in a barrel on a hillside.'

His and hers sinks.
Big French roll top bath.

'This is the height of luxury,

'and every bit as glorious
as that fantastic herbal bath -

'and what a contrast.

'After a great night's rest

'in one of Vietnam's
most luxurious hotels,

'it's time
to head back to the station.'

So, after two very different
experiences

up in the mountains here,
I'm back at Lao Cai station.

It's just getting dark,

because the train I'm taking
to Hanoi is a night train.

'On the next leg
of my Vietnam journey...'

TRAIN HORN BLARES
'..the night train to Hanoi.'

Think I'm gonna enjoy this.

'And in the capital, I get to taste
a Vietnamese speciality.

That is...
Yeah?

That's coffee-flavoured custard.
I like that a lot.

'I'm travelling
Vietnam's oldest rail route.

There's not much width
in these for people my size.

HE CHUCKLES

'I'm taking the sleeper to Hanoi.

'As the train fills up,
I find my berth

'and settle in
for the journey ahead.'

There you go, and we are underway.

Night train to Hanoi.

I quite like sleeper trains.

I've only been on one,
from London to Scotland,

but the rocking motion and the...
HE IMITATES TRAIN

...| actually find
sends you off to sleep,

even in a small bed.

It actually looks
quite plush in here.

Think I'm gonna enjoy this.

Looking forward to seeing Hanoi
as well.

The hustle and bustle
after the mountains.

Right, better get my bedclothes on,
I suppose.

'The sleeper
takes around eight hours

'to wind its way through nearly
200 miles of Vietnamese countryside

'while I sleep like a baby.

'The train gets into Hanoi so early,
I'm up before the sun,

'which doesn't happen often,
believe me.

'I need a coffee...'

It's nice coffee, this,
actually, to be honest.

'..Which, I'm pleased to say,
is available in every carriage.'

Oh, yeah. Gotta start the day
with a cup of coffee.

Although Hanoi is known
for a particular type of coffee.

In the meantime,
this will do to get me started.

'The train is bang on time,

'so my first sight of Hanoi
is in the dark,

'and the city is still waking up.

'The station was rebuilt
in the '70s,

'after it was damaged
in the Vietnam War,

'and now I'm here...'

Good morni-i-ing, Hanoi!

'Yeah, sorry, couldn't resist.

'I'm meeting someone
a short hop across the city

'for a proper coffee,
and the best way to get around Hanoi

'is via the brand-new metro.'

'Built with Chinese investment
at a cost of over £700 million,

'the eight miles of track
connects 12 stations.

'It's so early, the rush hour
hasn't even started yet.'

All very modern, isn't it?

Get my first proper view
of Hanoi now.

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam,

with a population
of over five million.

Everywhere I look,
there's a mixture of old and new.

So, this is Hanoi's metro,
or, as they call it, urban railway.

It's only been open a year.

They only have one line
running at the moment,

but they have ambitions
to build another nine in this city.

It's the first of its kind
anywhere in Vietnam,

and they're building another one
down in Ho Chi Minh City.

It's a real sort of symbol

of Vietnam's growing wealth
and ambition.

And it's up high, too,
so you get to see the city.

It's great, actually.

I've just got off one of
Vietnam's oldest railways,

and now I'm on
the newest railway line.

'In the few minutes
it takes to reach my stop,

'the train fills up with the first
of up to 30,000 daily commuters.'

Loads of commuters
on their way to work.

They obviously needed a metro.

BEEPING

'Leaving the comfort of the metro
behind,

'I'm confronted
with what seems to be

'every single one
of Hanoi's five million scooters.'

Crossing the street here,

you really take your life
in your hands.

There ARE zebra crossings,

but nobody takes any notice of them
at all,

so you just
have to kind of go for it.

This is slightly "Hanoi-ing".

Thank you. Very good.

And then you just have to
pile through the traffic...

HORN HOOTS

...and hope for the best.

'I'm meeting Nikita,
who's a local tour guide.

'She's promised me
the best coffee I've ever tasted.'

So, my guide said to meet her
by the fountain.

That's the fountain,
so that must be her.

Yeah, that's her.

HE LAUGHS

Hi, hi!
How're you doing?

Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.

I'm Nick.
I'm Nikita.

Are we going for some coffee?
Yeah, sure.

'Her specialism is finding
hidden food and drink haunts

'off the main tourist trail.

'And when I say hidden,
I do mean hidden.'

So, where are we having coffee?
Yes.

In this?
Yeah.

THEY CHUCKLE

It looks closed. It looks...

I wouldn't ever
choose to come in here.

Well, you're in Hanoi.

Every corner of Hanoi
will give you a big surprise.

'Well, I put myself in her hands,
so here goes.'

Come here.

Oh, my word!

Oh, it's beautiful!
Yeah.

Look at all the little birdcages
hanging on the walls here!

And...
The motorbikes?

Motorbike park in here as well!
Right.

Thank you very much.

Look at this!

So, what are we ordering?
Egg coffee.

Egg coffee?
Yes.

OK. How do I order it?
There's no waitress.

When you're waiting
for the waitress to come to us,

you're gonna shout.

Shout?
Yes.

Isn't that rude?
No, it's not, it's very common here.

Who do I shout to?
What, the kitchen?

Right, I'm going to show you
how to make an order. OK?

All the staff here,
they look younger than us. Right.

Right, when they're younger
than you, you call them "em".

OK.
OK, and you call, "Em oi."

Mean, "Hey, you."
Oh, I see, so it's "Em oi"...

"Em" mean, like, little sister.
Younger than you.

THEY LAUGH

Call them down there,
now they look at you.

And, but how do I order coffee?

OK, so, ca phe trung nong.

Trung?
Nong- N0ng_

Nov')-
NuflQ-

Yeah, almost.
Em oi...

BOTH: Ca phe trung nong.

Yes.

Em oi, ca phe trung nong.

Was that OK?!

Yeah, that's good! They understand.

'How about that?
I must have got it right first time.

'It was the French
who brought coffee to Vietnam.

'Now it's one of
the largest exporters of beans,

'used mostly
for making instant coffee.'

Is this for us?
Yes. Oh, good.

Can I take one of those? Thank you.

Ooh.
This is very thick.

Yeah.
There is a rule to drink egg coffee.

Yes?
First you taste the cream first.

It's thick, like custard.

Oh! That's delicious! That is...

Yeah.
That's coffee-flavoured custard.

I like that a lot.

And after you taste
the cream on the top,

you mix it up, try to make
the coffee in the bottom going up.

Oh, there's coffee in the bottom
as well?

Right, so it's a combo
of a drink and a dessert.

Oh, I see!
Yeah.

So, what's in it?
How do they make it?

Around 1945,
after the Second World War finished,

we have had shortage of getting
milk and cream from the West...

Yeah. ..to make coffee
to sell inside the country,

so one chef,
he was thinking of, you know,

try to make something
to replace the cream,

and he using the egg yolk,

with some condensed milk,
some sugar,

a few drops of vodka,
and beat them up to make cream.

Vodka?
Yeah!

The vodka will kill
the smell of the egg.

THEY CHUCKLE

Do you really like it?
I really like it a lot.

All right, OK.
But I love custard. OK.

You see, that's why you have to
get out when you come to a new city

and explore, because
behind the unassuming doors

are the best coffees and some of
the best food you'll ever taste.

'Hanoi is such
a wonderfully busy city,

'and there's something to see
round every corner.'

I love coming to markets
when I come to a new place,

cos it's so colourful

and you see all kinds of stuff
you've never seen before,

like fruits like this -
I've got no idea what that is.

But there are some things
that I do know

that are worth having a look at,
so...

here you go,
look at this, look at this.

Thank you very much.

Doesn't this look like something
that's invented in a movie,

like a dragon's egg?
It is, in fact, dragon fruit.

Oh, thank you very much.

It's a really interesting fruit.
Look at the inside of it!

Isn't that amazing?
And I've gotta tell you,

the fruit...

...is delicious, like...

perfumed and sweet and juicy. I'll
come back and pay you in a minute.

HORN HOOTS

Look at this.

They prepare it for you,
and apparently,

you just eat it like this.

Yeah, I'm not coming back for any
of that, it's like a sour pear.

It's cau, it's called.

That's not very nice at all,

but it's always worth
trying these things.

These are ramboutans,
which are like lychees.

Have you ever had lychees
from Chinese restaurants?

There you go, like that.

Really perfumed,
almost passion fruit-y flavour.

Thank you very much.

'Next on my journey through Vietnam,
a railway that runs

'right down a street and has become
an accidental tourist attraction.'

Help me, it's a monster!

'And I travel across one of the most
famous bridges in Vietnam.'

It was bombed
no fewer than ten times.

It does rock a bit,
and it is a bit wibbly.

'I'm halfway through my journey

'on one of Vietnam's
oldest railway lines.

'It runs straight through Hanoi,
and one stretch of track

'right in the centre of the city
has taken on a life of its own.'

This, you won't be
surprised to learn, is Train Street.

And yes, that is

a railway line running
straight through the middle of it.

The railway was built by the French
a hundred years ago,

and the accommodation either side
was full of railway workers.

And nobody sort of noticed it
for a long time,

and then a local Vietnamese woman
thought, if I put a cafe here,

people can see the train
run so close to these buildings.

In no time at all, tourists
were piling in here to have a look,

and it became one of the top ten
attractions in the whole of Vietnam.

The government have actually
tried to close this down twice

and stop people coming in,
because people are taking selfies

and getting in the way of the train,

and holding up the train,
on occasion.

Despite the government's efforts to
stop people, they're still coming.

They still walk down the railway
line, they still take selfies.

But this is the safe place
to watch it, up here on a balcony.

You can have a cup of coffee
or a beer here, too.

'The train's due in a few minutes,
which is why people are gathering.

'It's so narrow,

'the sound of the approaching train
is echoing off the walls.'

And here it is.

BLARING HORN

Help, it's a monster!

WOW!

Look how close it is!

I mean, it's inches away from us.

HE LAUGHS

'I've never seen anything like it.

'Across Hanoi,
there's a special place

'I want to visit before I leave.

'Many visitors to this country still
associate it with the Vietnam War,

'fought between communist
North Vietnam, backed by China,

'and the anti-Communist
South Vietnam, backed by the USA.

'Although it ended
almost 50 years ago,

'the impact of chemicals used
in the war is still felt today.

'Just off this Hanoi street
is a place providing help and hope.

'It was set up by
an American veteran, George Mizo.

'He wanted to set aside
the old enmities

'and reach out
from the United States to Vietnam.

'Helping children and veterans
alike,

'this place is called
Friendship Village.'

Xin chao.

Km chao.

How are you? Nice to meet you all.

'First, I'm meeting
veterans staying here.'

How does the Village help you?
Have you made friends here?

I don't need a translation,
I can see the smiles on your faces!

What are your memories of that time?

'Agent Orange was a chemical
sprayed by the Americans

'to kill vegetation
during the conflict,

'but it had a devastating effect
on people, too.

'That's why the Village also houses
up to 120 children

'believed to be living
with the effects of Agent Orange.

'Deputy director
Nguyen Thang Long can tell me more.'

Why are children now being born
with difficulties

because of Agent Orange?

It's amazing, like...

So a chemical dropped during the war
to kill crops

has been taken into the bodies

of people who were fighting
at the time,

and that is going on
generation after generation,

and that's why we see
children with disabilities now.

That's just awful.

Is it...

It's called a friendship village,

and I can see that friendship for
the children and for the veterans

is at the heart of what you do.

Yeah. Yeah,
wouldn't that be a great thing?

'Now I want to meet
some of those children

'learning vocational activities
to prepare them

'to earn their own livings
later on.'

THEY GREET
EACH OTHER

Wow, it's a proper production line
going on here.

Can I learn to do this as well?
Yes, you can.

'These children
are making paper flowers,

'sold widely in Vietnam
as part of religious observances.

'The intricate blooms
help raise funds for the village.'

"Make the shape of a leaf."

'The craft required
helps their motor skills

'and boosts their confidence.'

Do you like doing this?

What do you like about it?

Well, easy for you to make,
not easy for me. Look at that!

I've made a right mess of that one!

A little bit down there.

And a lot of patience.

But your fingers...

Look at the difference in fingers.
I have fingers like big sausages!

GIGGLING

What do you like
about making these flowers?

Aah!

'What a marvellous place this is,

'and it all came about
because one man thought back

'about his time fighting in Vietnam

'and wanted to leave
a different legacy.'

CHEERING

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

THEY BOTH CHUCKLE

'I'll remember the veterans and the
flower girl for the rest of my life.

'But now, I've got to head back
to the heart of Hanoi.

'I've got a train to catch.'

I'm stood at the end
of the platform,

which is the start
of the Long Bien Bridge.

This is one of the longest
of its kind anywhere in the world.

'The bridge is 1.5 miles long,

'and it's what's known as
a cantilever truss bridge.

'Look at it!
it just goes on and on forever.

'Construction was completed in 1903,
and over the decades,

'it's become so much more
than just a bridge.

'And it will carry me onto
the second half of my journey.

'Leaving Hanoi, it'll take me
just under three hours

'to travel 63 miles
to the port of Haiphong

'and the world-famous Ha Long Bay.'

HORN BLARES

This train is huge!
About 20 carriages.

I've just got time to check out
what's going to be pulling us.

Monster of an engine, isn't it?

It's obviously got some age on it.
A bit rusty.

'This engine came from Yugoslavia
in the '80s,

'a gift from one communist state
to another.

'I'd better get on.

'I'm meeting travel writer
and railway historian Tim Doling.

'He's lived here for almost 25 years

'and can tell me more
about the bridge and the railway.'

Ah!

Tim Doling.

Hello, Nick, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.

Listen, I'm gonna get
straight into this bridge

we're about to cross,
cos we cross it very soon, don't we,

out of the station?
just starting.

What makes it so special?

Well, it was opened in 1902,

and it was very much a symbol of
French colonial power in Indochina.

But then, after the Vietnam War,

the whole perception
of the big bridge began to change.

It was bombed
no fewer than ten times,

and to keep the trains running
during this period,

they actually set up
a kind of pontoon bridge

a few miles down the river
when the bridge was out.

The slogan of the time was,

"Run trains with no bridge
over the river."

It went from being
a symbol of colonial power

to being a symbol
of resistance against oppressors.

That's interesting. It does rock
a bit, and it is a bit wibbly.

Not the straightest bridge
in the world any more, is it?

There's a book which describes
how its misshapen and broken spans

are symbolic of that kind
of indomitable spirit

of the Hanoi people,
resisting foreign invasions.

What is it about
these railways in Vietnam

that have fascinated you so much

that you dedicated so much time
to it?

It was a massive undertaking.

If you look at
the social value of it,

I mean, it encouraged
unprecedented movement of people -

you have whole urban centres
being set up around the railway.

All along the various lines.

Ancl it also, in some ways,

contributed to
a growth of nationhood,

because people, for the first time,
given the state of the roads,

could actually
travel around the country

and see the length and breadth
of their nation.

Something I've never thought about.

If you can't travel easily
to the other end of your country,

how can you have a sense of
the country you live in? Absolutely.

HORN BLARES

'This stretch of my journey
will take me through an area

'that is one of Vietnam's
main economic powerhouses.

'But before that, there's a
surprising sight at the next stop.'

Come and have a look at this!

That's not something
you see every day.

You can load your moped on a train,

so you don't have to do
the long distances between towns.

A moped's not the easiest transport
to go long distance on,

but we know how important mopeds are
in this part of the world.

I've got to tell you,
that's not easy to do.

I guarantee you,
if you tried this at home...

...nine times out of ten, you'd
end up dumping it on the floor.

Wow, very impressive!

Oh, running out of scooters,
so I'd better get back on the train.

'On the last stretch of my journey,

'I discover just how far
Vietnam's come...'

It's an extraordinary thing to see.
It feels like a bit of the future,

and very, very high-tech.

'..And find paradise
at the end of the line.'

Very beautiful, don't you think?

Kind of spooky,
almost sort of prehistoric.

Looks like Godzilla
lay down a thousand years ago

and trees have grown all over him.

'I'm on the final part of my journey
across northern Vietnam.

'This stretch of the line
passes through

'one of the more important areas
for Vietnam's economy.'

Vietnam was considered
one of the lowest-income countries

in the world.
Now it's a middle-income nation,

and they have aspirations
to be high-income earners by 2045.

It's all balanced around
their development.

This part of the country
is their high-tech area,

and they're doing a lot
in electronics, in IT,

it's a country
that's really going somewhere.

'The next stop
gives me a chance to see

'just how fast Vietnam is changing.

'Vingroup is the country's
largest private corporation,

'set up by Pham Nhat Vuong,

'a billionaire,
and Vietnam's richest man.

'In 2017, they formed VinFast,
a car company.

'Now they're taking on the big boys
in the electric car business.

'To find out more, I'm meeting
Deputy CEO Michael johns on,

'bringing decades
of American auto experience

'to the other side of the world.'

So, as I'm travelling
across Vietnam,

I'm seeing that
it's a country on the move.

How do you think VinFast

is changing the international
profile of Vietnam?

It's really to try
to provide a fresh perspective

of the really, truly dedicated,
dynamic, resourceful

and resilient people of Vietnam.

As you may know, Vietnam is one

of the fastest-growing economies
in the world.

One of the thing that fascinates me
when you have a country

developing at such speed is,
do you have the workforce

with the level of education you need
to do these high-tech jobs?

How are you getting that to work?

What Vingroup,
the parent of VinFast, has invested,

not only in elementary schools,
but also provided a VinUniversity.

Ancl we do immense training
right here on the VinFast campus.

That's fantastic. Because it means
you're taking the workforce

and the population with you
on this amazing journey. Exactly.

'In November 2022, VinFast exported

'their first electric cars
to the USA.

'Loaded at Haiphong
and bound for New York.'

It was such a historic event
that we were very fortunate

to welcome the Prime Minister here
to participate in the event.

So it was really quite historic.

That tells a story, doesn't it,

about how important it is
to the country and this

extraordinary emerging market
we see in Vietnam?

Not only was
the Vietnamese Prime Minister there,

but we also had the US ambassador

really giving a speech and
showing the importance of the event.

'The car that's making all the fuss?
A mid-range hatchback.'

So, there it is, the VF8.

One thing left for me to do -
drive it and see what it's like.

'So I'm taking it out
on the company test track.'

There we go.

Three, two, one, launch.

CHUCKLES
It pushes me back in the seat.

And 50, 60...

70. It is very impressive.

'This car can hit 0 to 60
in 5.3 seconds,

'and has a range
of around 300 miles.'

Yep.

Putting it through its paces.
Very sure-footed.

Actually really enjoys itself
around corners.

It's just an enormous amount of fun.

And this...
is the future for Vietnam.

High-tech electric vehicles.

No wonder the country's
on the up and up.

'Back at the station,
it's just a few miles now

'to the end of the line.'

So, we're just pulling into
Haiphong.

Crossing the river.

Station ahead.

'The entire journey
from the Chinese border

'takes almost 11 hours,
on 247 miles of track.

'And finally, I've arrived.'

Well, that's the end
of the railway journey,

but not the end of my trip,

because the train
has brought me to the coast,

and it's very beautiful here.

But of course,
you can't see it in the dark,

so I'll see you in the morning
for a bit more.

'Next morning, I'm up early

'for a bucket list trip
across the water.'

This is Ha Long Bay.

It's become
a huge tourist attraction.

Well, look at it. You can see why.

'These towers are what's known as
a karst landscape,

'formed by the way
the limestone is eroded by water.

'They're famous the world over,

'drawing ten million visitors
here a year.'

Very beautiful, don't you think?

Kind of spooky,
almost sort of prehistoric.

Kind of expect dinosaurs

to come creeping out of the woods,
don't you?

Beautiful.

'And the train had a lot to do with
bringing that tourism here,

'opening up the opportunities
for people to travel.'

The train that brought me here was
built by the French for industry,

but, in actual fact,
was used more and more by the locals

to go from town to town
and onto the coast

and places like this, and so...
a tourist industry started.

And now, you, me and anybody
from around the world

can come to places like this
and enjoy it,

and it is truly spectacular
and beautiful.

'It just shows the impact
railways can have.

'I came here
not knowing what to expect.'

SHOUTS: Good morning, Hanoi!

'What I found is a country
healing the wounds of its past,

'with a present packed with life...

HORN BLARES

That really is a monster!

'..And looking firmly
to the future.'

It's just an enormous amount of fun!

You know,
Vietnam is full of surprises.

Yes, there's amazing food,
and yes, there's amazing views,

but it's a country on the up and up.

Come and see it yourself if you can.