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Published: September 3rd 2012
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Night Train to Denang
This is a bit different to a 5* Well we pick the overnight train up from Nha Trang to Hoi An except it is going onto Hue Vietnam's old capital. The first step on the adventure is we have to cross over train tracks to get to our carriage and I mean not walking under a pass or over a bridge but literally over the tracks. We get accosted by this little old lady who you guessed it was 90 and that is being kind trying to show us to our carriage and berths - as we could not shake her I just said to Mike get some money out as this is what she wants - I suppose it is not a bad way to take foreigners money. Anyway we had the two top bunks and two Vietnamese ladies had the bottom two. Mike can now say he has slept on top a of Vietnamese lady, ha ha.
The two ladies were really nice and they had their family in the next cabin - they did not know what to make of having two westerners in the top bunks - who they could not understand a word we said. They both slept with the their lights on
Lady Working
From the train to Denang all night, we are not sure if she had heard that westerner's eat vietnamese women in their sleep!
The bedding on the bunk was less than to be desired and this is when I wished I still had my silk sleep bag from Nepal! Made note to myself pick a couple up whilst in Hoi An.
We were informed that the journey would take 8 hours by the hotel, then 10 hours by the guard and then 12 hours by a passegner who knows how long we were going to be on the train. This was not helped as we noted when stopping at stations they do not have names and the only way you know you are going to stop is by a guard on a tannoy which you cannot understand a word of. I kept trying to listen out for a word I knew but to no avail. Anyway, after 11 hours we come to a big station and I just looked out of our cabin and loads of people were getting off, so I shouted to Mike I think we are here which then started a westerner stampede to get off the train.
All
Our new view
The riverside view from our abode for the next 4 nights I can say is I am glad it was the right station as I could see me being strung up - not the best way to go when you are in Vietnam!
So we get off the train and get into the station, beforehand we had agreed we are not in a rush so we can take our time to get a taxi or work out whether to get a bus. One mistake we made was as soon as you are spotted taxi hawks are round you like a pack of dogs and you cannot hear yourself think. Anyway this nice man came up to us and said I live in Hoi Ann I will get you there for 240,000 vnd (approx £7) then we get official taxi hawks telling us no no you come with us for 450,000 vnd. This did not make sense to me so we went with the non official one. As we are walking behind him Mike the sensible one says do you think we should be doing this - to which dippy one (moi) says course why not? When you think back to it, was it sensible, NO, should we have done it, NO, did we know where we were going, NO. It worked out ok but thinking back was a bit silly.
We have now booked into our next place and we seem to go from the sublime to the rediculous and back from a 5* to a basic train sleeper to a 4*. Where we are staying is on the riverside and we have a riverside view which is unbeleivable watching the Vietnamese boats going back and forward with loads of Vietnamese people onboard - I could say something else about this but I think I should be politically correct and my comments would not be.
We have had a quick wander into Hoi Ann and first impressions is it is lovely. I will post some pictures for you tomorrow.
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patrick
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Going to Hoi An, good choice
Hoi An is the best place when i travel to Vietnam. I book the train from Hanoi to Da Nang and after that go to Hoi An. I had used service at http://www.yourlocalbooking.com/tours/hanoi/trains-from-hanoi-to-da-nang-156.html