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Published: January 3rd 2008
Hong Hum to Guangzhou
The first train into China. A double decker train.Happy New Year to everyone!
I spent the festive season on a bit of an adventure to Vietnam and Cambodia.....but to begin with, I had to get there....
Why take a plane to Hanoi when you can take the MTR, KCR, a train, a taxi, another two trains, a taxi, a border crossing, another taxi, a van ride, and another taxi!
Well, that is what we did, and here is how it panned out!
On the 22nd December at noon, 5 of us met at Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station to begin the journey! We got the KCR to Hung Hom, where we transferred to a train to Guangzhou (China - first visa requirement). This was a double decker train and took about two hours. It was my first time in China so I was happy getting my first impressions out of the window.
Once in Guangzhou we had about one hour to get on to the next train, but unfortunately it was from the other Guangzhou train station! The queue for the taxi rank was very long and had we got in line, we were sure to miss our train...and so the first adventure was upon us!
Sleeper cabin
This is me in my 'hard sleeper' bed on the overnight train. This was my allocated space for 12 hours! Thankfully we all knew each other, so could sit on the bottom bunks together! We thought we would try and pre-empt the taxi rank and walk out into the road leading up to the station, but no luck, they weren't stopping and it was a huge road that made it difficult to stop anyway. Opposite was a hotel where people were getting in cars, so we stood outside this (rather nice looking) hotel with all our clobber and attempted to wave frantically in the road....until a lady from the hotel said she would help us! Thankfully they got a taxi to come round to the front of the hotel for us, and so we piled all our things in the boot and jumped in..all 5 of us! The taxi driver was having issues with taking all 5 of us, but we weren't budging, we were going to miss our train! So we squeezed ourselves in and the taxi groaned its way to Guanzhou East station! The taxi driver was ranting most of the way on the phone and glancing at his car wheels, clearly concerned! Passers-by were also amused at all the westerners crammed in! Thankfully we just made it in time to the station and squeezed through the crowds and found the train,
A cabin
Attempting to fit all 6 beds into a photo without much space, being on a train! waved our tickets around to get pointed in the right direction (English is not a lot of use in China) and found our beds on the sleeper train to Nanning. 16.57, we set off for South-Eastern China.
We were in a 6 person hard-sleeper cabin - although it actually had no doors and no privacy - to the benefit of all the Chinese people who could stop and have a little stare and observe these westerners on a train to Nanning! It was small but cosy and we could all sit on the bottom two bunks to play cards until it was time to go to sleep. All in all a very comfortable journey, the only criticism is the not so pretty toilet situation on a Chinese train! I was prepared for worse though, so it wasn't too bad! The train stopped on average every half an hour throughout the night, but I managed to sleep on and off until we arrived at about 6am on Sunday and it was time for the next leg of the journey.
From here onwards it was unplanned and unticketed....
At Nanning we purchased another train ticket to Pingxiang with our Renminbi,
and had a couple of hours to wait in a small station cafe. At 08.00 we departed Nanning. The journey gave me a good opportunity to see some of the Chinese landscape which was quite dramatic in places, lots of hills and rocky parts. Lots of sugar cane too, and I could see people working in the fields. We attempted some Putonghua (Mandarin) with some of the people on the train, with much difficulty and we ended up telling them I was from Vietnam! Then we got out the playing cards which got a lot of laughs because they were jumbo sized ones! I think people these were normal because one woman explained that in China, they were small! Anyhow, one of the things I love about travelling is the people you meet, and it gives you an opportunity to learn a little more about a country or a place, or just to share something with someone new. We were playing Chinese poker “Dai Di” on the train, and one of the guys in the seats behinds us indicated he could play, so he joined in. I like how you can share in some form of entertainment even though you
Early morning in China
Passengers disembarking the train somewhere between Nanning and Pingxiang. cannot say two words to each other.
Once in Pingxiang, a lady from the train helped us negotiate a taxi to the border crossing, and we walked on in to Vietnam! (Legally of course, exiting China, and then into Vietnamese immigration, second visa required). It felt strange walking into another country! Once on the other side we were into US dollars and Vietnamese Dong and got ourselves a taxi to Dong Dang.
Our first impressions of Vietnam were in Dong Dang; there were lots of cyclists and mopeds driving around, all with various items attached in some way. One man had a cardboard box of shoes behind him, and another moped drove past with two whole pigs carcases on the back! There were lots of people selling fruit, and loads of them really do wear those pointy hats, and carry sticks over their shoulders with the baskets hanging off.
Nearing our final stop, we negotiated a van to take us to Hanoi and it was very randomly full of various electrical goods which were dropped off on the roadside with various people along the way! All quite amusing! It was nice to see the scenery of Vietnam
go by, lots of rice fields, cattle, and greenery.
Once off the bus, the final leg of the journey was a taxi to the hotel, which was, you’ll be pleased to hear, just an average taxi journey! Nothing too random or strange!
And so we had finally arrived in Hanoi after about 30 hours of traveling and 5 modes of transport (MTR, KCR, train, taxi, van)!
It was a great adventure traveling overland and I’m glad we did it!
Then it was time for the rest of the trip to begin...
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