Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: night train

tirsdag den 12. april 2016

The night train from Hue to Hanoi, the express bus to Sapa - and then relaxing (Hue - Hanoi - Sapa)

The train from Hue arrived on time in Hanoi. We were woken up 15 minutes before arrival at 5:20 AM, just after daybreak. Too early but we had slept well on the train from Hue. Malene struggling a bit with the lack of A/C in the lower bunk bed but apart from that an OK experience doing the night train in Vietnam. Contrary to some of the stories from other travellers we actually found the train to be quite comfortable. Not as nice as a hotel room but still. We shared our compartment with another Vietnamese woman who was quiet, the A/C was partially working which meant the top bunk was cold and the bottom a lot warmer, there was a couple of OK toilets in our carriage. Not anything fancy, but working and by Vietnamese standards clean.

Next on the plan was to find a taxi that could take us to a bus company with an early morning connection to Sapa. There is a morning train running from Hanoi to Lao Cai and a bus connecting to Sapa but it takes more than twice as long time as the express bus - easy choice this morning.
At first the taxi drivers didn't really know where to take us. There is not a bus station in Hanoi for long distance buses to Sapa - instead you go to the bus company's office somewhere in town and they make sure you get on the bus.

Eventually we found a taxi that could take us to the Sapa Express Bus office and after a few attempts the driver succeeded in finding the office where they were just opening up at 6:15 AM. No luck though - it was sold out this morning but the nice guy at the office rang the other company that was also having a 7 AM departure and we were confirmed on that departure - and only had to walk 400 metres down the road to office. At 7 AM the bus arrived, we managed to catch a Ba Minh bun for breakfast just before the bus left and the next five hours were spent taking a few naps in the comfortable bus going on the highway to Lao Cai and then up the mountain road to Sapa for the last hour.

Being dropped off in Sapa was slightly chaotic as in "everybody out of the bus" - as our bus guide suddenly yelled. We were greeted by the usual crowd of locals wanting to sell us souvenirs, hiking trips and other stuff. We told them no, looked at our map and walked 15 minutes to our hotel only to miss it since we were paying so much attention to the left side of the road that we missed it being on the right side. They were a bit confused with our arrival but after a while they told us we were staying at the sister hotel next door, we walked there and got a really, really nice room with our own balcony. Nothing beats the feeling of a shower after 18 hours of continuous travel - and a nice bed that doesn't move.

We relaxed for a couple of hours before going out for some late lunch, then heading back to the room and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Mikkel was the only one making it our for dinner tonight. Malene was too tired after some long days of travelling. More relaxing in Sapa tomorrow. It feels like the right place to chill. And we need it.

Breakfast to go

Getting closer to Sapa

When you have been too long in Asia

We've moved in

mandag den 11. april 2016

Easy Riders from Hoi An to Hue - Day #2 - Prao town, Ho Chi Minh Trail, Hue Imperial City and catching the night train for Hanoi

Since we had a train to catch in Hue in the afternoon we left our homestay early in the morning. Our two drivers looking more or less sober after clearly having had a lot of rice wine last night. Apparently this is how things work in Vietnam.

We headed North on the road that is also known as the Ho Chi Minh trail and stopped at the memorial next to the road and had a bit of information about the trail and the war. Then we continued on the more or less deserted road, occasionally passing another motorbike or car but it was the exception. It was just us and our two drivers - and the beautiful mountains. We drove for a while before stopping at a waterfall next to the side of the road and even though it was early in the morning it was already hot so we soaked our feet in the cold water and enjoyed the view and tranquillity of the place. How wonderful on a Monday morning to be here.

We continued to drive for a couple of hours not really stopping - because there wasn't anything to stop at. No plantations, no flower garden, no small businesses - just mountain road and us. Eventually we made it to a small town, stopped for Vietnamese coffee before doing the last stretch of road to Hue, doing our lunch stop just before getting to Hue. The last 50 kilometres of road were also impressive going up and down mountain roads but with more traffic.

In Hue we were dropped off at the Imperial City and spent the next 1½ hours on our own walking around the area looking at buildings and the gardens in there. It was relatively quiet in the afternoon with a few visitors so it felt like having the place to ourselves. The combination of newly renovated buildings, ruins, patches of green areas and small gardens were really nice and we could easily have spent more time in there but we also had a night train to catch.

Our two drivers dropped us off at the train station, they left for the drive back to Hoi An and we sat at the station for the next two hours waiting for our train to arrive. We almost left on time, only some 10 minutes delayed and having stocked up on water and food we were ready for the next 13 hours of train ride to Hanoi.

The compartment was nice and clean, the A/C not too cold, we shared the four person compartment with a Vietnamese woman who didn't say too much, so for the first couple of hours we could enjoy the countryside as it passed by. Once the sun set and daylight disappeared we rested in our bunk beds that were also long enough to fully stretch. Not too bad given some of the less flattering descriptions we have read about the night trains in Vietnam. We were quite happy with the standard of the train. Looking forward to a good nights sleep.