Night train to Danang

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I got a sleeper on the night train to Da Nang. I found the carriage and the sleeper very easily. I had an upper bunk, as all the lower bunks were sold out.

A little while after I was all settled in and had even managed to fit my backpack into the tiny crevice by the upper bunk (it helps that I'm intentionally travelling very light this time), 3 Vietnamese ladies and 2 young boys took over the lower two bunks. None spoke English, except for "Hello ... What is your name?" ... then an older gentleman came with his son to take the remaining upper bunk - and has a 24 pack of imported beer with him. He also had some kind of speech impediment, where he couldn't say much but grunt and gesture. umm ... this was going to be interesting.

But, that's travel eh!

Before the train left the station, 2 of the 3 ladies left the train and it was only the mother with her two sons in the 2 bunks below, and the older man with the beer and 2 packs of smokes in his pocket in the other upper bunk.

The older boy, about 7-8 years old, took out a video game and started playing it. At the sound of the annoying electronic sounds, the older man would start picking at the lining by his bunk to make a different distracting noise. Then the boy would stop playing. And the old man would stop too. When the old man left the car for a walk about or something, the older boy would make mocking faces behind his back.

The train left sharp on time! Wow! That was a good sign. The first stop was also right on time. It was a 14 1/2 hour journey and the train arrived in Da Nang about 45 minutes late. At this rate it would be in Hanoi only about an hour late. That's a sign of organization.

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