Traveling by train is fascinating! Hi,
It is as close to the people as you can possibly get and as I wrote, the people are very warm and friendly everywhere. I can´t remember if I mentioned it or not but even as I was waiting for a very delayed train in Nah Trang, a woman came up to me and asked if I would mind talking to here 3 children in English. That session lasted for 4 hours as the train was very late!
Even in Quang Ngai, the locals took very good care of me as I waited nearly 6 hours telling me where to go to get food and how much it should cost.
If you get your tickets from travel agents, you will be placed with other foreigners and pay a 'premium' for this service. If that is your gig, that is the way to go but for me, I wanted to see Vietnam and the Vietnamese and got my own tickets and made my own reservations and seldom saw a foreigner.
The only down side is you need to watch your belongings as petty theft is an issue everywhere in Vietnam but honestly, where isn't it?
Charlie
Survival Tips I admit my first thoughts of traveling to VietNam gave me the willies. However, your observations are extremely entertaining and give key survival techniques that have bolstered my confidence.
While you have not stated this outright, it seems that traveling on the train is safe and acceptable even for Americans. No guarantees of course, but would like you comments in that direction.
I am an 'old' Asian hand that spends my time between Europe and Southeast Asia. Most recently I took 3 months off and traveled over 6,000 kilometers via bus, river ferry, motorbike, train and plane around Thailand, Laos and Vietnam with Vietnam being the focus of this journey. My teaching blog can be found on the Internet at http://ajarncharlie.blogspot.com/. ... full info
mysticsailor
Charlie
Traveling by train is fascinating!
Hi, It is as close to the people as you can possibly get and as I wrote, the people are very warm and friendly everywhere. I can´t remember if I mentioned it or not but even as I was waiting for a very delayed train in Nah Trang, a woman came up to me and asked if I would mind talking to here 3 children in English. That session lasted for 4 hours as the train was very late! Even in Quang Ngai, the locals took very good care of me as I waited nearly 6 hours telling me where to go to get food and how much it should cost. If you get your tickets from travel agents, you will be placed with other foreigners and pay a 'premium' for this service. If that is your gig, that is the way to go but for me, I wanted to see Vietnam and the Vietnamese and got my own tickets and made my own reservations and seldom saw a foreigner. The only down side is you need to watch your belongings as petty theft is an issue everywhere in Vietnam but honestly, where isn't it? Charlie