Whoo whoo choo choo chi chi chi chi chi!

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As we set off in the mini bus from the hotel in Hanoi to the train station, ready for our overnight adventure on the Reunification 'Express', Phat reads out a list of everyone's names with a number assigned. This is to be our berth for the night. I'm not with everyone else! Either I'm not to be trusted and have to stay with Phat or I'm the one he thinks won't mind as much. Anyway he manages to pursuade a lady (who had booked into the 4 berth that three of our group were in) to swap with me and I end up with our crowd after all. I volunteered for a top bunk and a bit of rock climbing ensued to try and get up there. We had a four berth carriage, lockable, unlike the ones in India that were open to the corridoor and NINE berth!! (three high each side and 3 facing in the corridoor). Over the tannoy very bad Vietnamese style pop music was blaring with a cheesy key change every so often. Every time a song stopped, virtually the whole of our corridoor cheered, then booed when it started up again! Phat assured us it would be turned off for the night.

After checking out the other's we find that one of our set of four had been locked in their carriage unable to get out and had been trying to phone Phat to rescue them. Fortunately the guard had realised otherwise they may have ended up in Saigon!

Again the mattresses were extremely hard and it would be a long night for Lottie! Not much sleep was had so it was with much relief (and several hilarious excursions up and down from my bunk, to go to the 'happy room'😉 that we pulled into Hue station at about 8am the next morning.

We have two more of these journies so hopefully I'll get used to it and sleep a bit better the next two times.

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