Are We Inside a Washer Machine?

We took an overnight train to Hue from Hanoi. The train left Hanoi at 11pm - actually an ontime departure. Usually when you have a train leaving this late in the evening, it turns into a long day of waiting and waiting. That was not the case for us as we continued to enjoy Hanoi by walking the streets, taking pictures, and having some good meals. We spent a good amount of time in some art galleries, which helped to pass the time as well.

We were in a compartment with 4 sleeper beds - our compartment mates were 2 Aussies who had traveled through China and were spending a few weeks in Vietnam. The train and compartment itself were fairly on par with an India train. the bathroom was perhaps more of an adventure on this one due to the toilet filling up with water way too high for how much we were rocking around. They actually cleaned stuff on the Vietnamese train - sweeping etc. That definitely did not happen on an Indian train. On Indian trains they provided sheets and a blanket. (How we dealt with these is another story that we should have blogged about but nevermind.) On this one all you got was a blanket. Now I sure as heck was not going to put that blanket just straight on to me without a sheet because who knows when they last cleaned it. It's not like it looked dirty but it's just not my cup of tea. I had brought along my sarong and used that to separate me from the blanket. Since we could not figure out what would be provided to us, Veronica had purchased a silk sleeping bag in Hanoi which she very happily slid into.....I was cursing myself a bit for not spending the $4 as well on one. Penny wise and pound foolish.

The train ride was like being in a WASHER MACHINE. It rocked heavily back and forth as well as jerked forward at times when slowing down. I think Veronica, ever the engineer, spent most of the night trying to puzzle out why the train was doing that. I myself was thinking that being up on the top bunk, I was surely rocking worse than she. I did manage to get some sleep though.

I woke up at about 7 am and was anxious to get out of the compartment to see the scenery. Sure enough the scenery did not disappoint. We were going through an area with mountains and lots of rice paddie fields with farmers tending their land. It was all beautifully green. At this point in the train ride, we were very close to where the DMZ (de-militarized zone) was during the Vietnam war, which saw an extraordinarily large amount of war action. I was thinking about what it was like to be there then. That war had such a dramatic effect on people and it was interesting to be in an area where a lot of fighting occurred. It seemed hard to imagine actually given how serene it all looked.

I woke Veronica up so that she too could enjoy the scenery. We made the trek through 8 or 9 coaches to make it to the dining car and have some tea. A Vietnamese woman was eating pho (noodle soup) which did not appeal to me. We contemplated having steamed rice with an egg, but then we decided to wait on food.

A short while later we made a stop. All the vendors with their food were set up at the station waiting for us. I hopped out and negotiated on 2 baguettes (gotta love that French influence!), 2 bananas, and 2 hard boiled eggs. The ladies were not too into negotiating so I gave them way more than I should have but it was worth the experience though not worth eating. The baguettes were good but the eggs were sort of bluish color inside so we both bailed on those and hucked them.

After about 10 hours of being on the train, we arrived in Hue. There was our hotel guy waiting for us with a sign saying "Suzanne Parisa". I had spent so much time on the phone with 2 different people at the hotel spelling out my name. This was pretty close. And certainly a relief to just hop into the car rather than negotiate with the taxi people. Off we went to the Binh Duong 3 Hotel, owned by the same people as the Binh Duong 1 people but not the Binh Duong 2 people. Guess some copycat jumped in before they could start their second hotel.