Travels in Vietnam

N  79  Night Train to Hue

I had decided to travel to the middle part of Vietnam by night train. It was not that we didn’t have time , but I just wanted to feel the experience. But when we looked at the train schedule, we saw that the tourist train leaves only at night ( 19:10 ). I had expected to see some Vietnam’s landscape while travelling , but with the night sleeper we will see only a few hours of daylight . Anyway we decided to book the tickets.

The cost of the ticket is not so cheap. It is about 62 $, about the same as the air ticket, but the distance also is not so short. From Hanoi to Hue it is 688 klms and we will have to spend about 12 hours on the train.

We got to the train station on time and even had to wait some time. It was a little crowded and noisy. But not so bad. When it was time for boarding we had to go to the platform and locate our carriage.

 Not before long we got onto our cabins ( 2 for 8 of us ).The train left on time. Our cabins were neat and tidy and looked like there was nothing we need. I tried to sleep but could not , so when someone suggested that we should go to the dining carriage we agreed and left. I had thought that we would have to cross not more than 5 carriages but I was mistaken. We had to cross about 10 carriages and it was not very easy for me with the moving train. After we had crossed sleepers full of tourists we crossed some more carriages full of locals. I wondered where all of these people boarded. They must have boarded the train from other stations before they joined us at the central station because  I didn’t see many when we boarded at the central station.

Finally we reached the restaurant carriage. I had thought that food can be ordered and eaten here, but to my frustration they  only have  instant coffee and instant noodle.Though I was not hungry at that time I ordered a bowl of noodle and a cup of coffee.

We decided to return to our carriage while the train stop at one station. So it was not so bad on our return.

I tried to sleep after that , but sleep would not come. The carriage was swaying sideways and also up and down. U Sai commented that they do not differ much from our Myanmar railway carriages.So asleep or not dawn broke and we got up to watch the landscape of Vietnam.

There was nothing much to say about  Vietnam’s landscape. It is not beautiful and full of unwanted plants and weeds like in our country. It may be because there is much rain . We travelled past villages and rice fields, some filled with water , some still being tilled to get sown. It was time for sowing I thought . We also saw buffaloes. So they also use buffaloes for ploughing like in our Shan State. Sometimes we saw some big rivers or streams, but not big trees. I wondered where have all their big trees gone. To China…. like ours ? As for the houses they don’t have bamboo or thatched houses . Only brick houses with tile roofing. But they are not new or neat and tidy.

Our train punctually pulled into our destination, Hue station at 8:20 like they said .There is not a proper landing there. I had to be assisted in stepping down to the low platform. And there is not a neat platform either. Besides it was raining and wet. We dragged our luggages through the wet and rough surface of the platform to where we can hire taxis.

Though there were some inconveniences in the night train we didn’t grumble or complain about them. Instead we felt contented and happy  about it as it was a rare experience which a few people of our country had been through.