Not a nice title we know, but in a way felt it encapsulated our adventure getting to Nha Trang. We have decided to take the night train from Saigon to Nha Trang – flashpacking again we thought as we purchase our tickets at $22 US each for an airconditioned soft sleeper to travel almost 500 kms over 7 hours on the famous Reunification Express. We should have remembered the old adage, you get what you pay for in life… It is the best available and as expected we would be in a 4 berth cabin, 2 beds on the bottom and 2 on the top. Precedence is given for the lower bunks for those travelling the longer distances – some taking over 2 days to get to Hanoi, so we knew we had been allocated upper berths. The trip to the station was fine, and we were sad to leave the City. The station, after having been through Bejing and expecting similar, was not similar at all and really quiet and easy. We find our allocated car and make our way up the narrow corridor to find our berth. It appeared that the whole of a local village was in there – filled with people, boxes, cases but at least no chickens that we could see. Someone who had good English sorted it all out, and the boxes were removed from our bunks. We put our luggage inside and waited in the corridor till the residents sorted themselves out. As the maelstrom cleared, we were left with a very old, gaunt, frail, desperately sick man, with a striking resemblance to Ho Chi Minh on one bunk, accompanied by what we think was his daughter on the other, in what we interpreted to be a mercy mission to take him home to the North to die. He clearly wasn’t long for this world. The first sputum arrived before the train departed and was elegantly deposited in a plastic bag. As the night progressed, we became all too familiar with the pattern and the noise… We had stood in the corridor for an hour watching the night scenery as we slowly wound our way out of Saigon before we managed to brave the clamber to the upper level bunks. We were something of a novelty as the only Westerners on the train and a parade of people walked back and forth to take a look at these giants. We also shared in a spiritual moment as a lady cast fake paper money out of the window as an offering to the Gods for a safe journey. It worked. Despite the hacking coughs of our companion, the pitching and rolling of the train and the shouts of the stationmaster at the 2.30am stop we discover that we must now be hardened backpackers as we get a good night’s rest. We were woken this morning at the scheduled 5.39am, bang on time by the shouts of “Nha Trang, Nha Trang”. We knew we had reached our destination. It couldn’t have been that bad though, we have just booked ourselves into a 6 berth hard sleeper for the 8 hour journey to Danang in a few days time – we are looking forward to discovering who our companions may be this time…. On arrival into Nha Trang we had no accommodation arranged, so relied on trusty Tripadvisor to guide or way. We successfully get 2 spacious rooms at $14US each, again with bathroom, toiletries, aircon, tv, fridge and mini bar at the Ha Van hotel and even after all that adventure, we were still checking out the beach before 7 am – so it may be an early night tonight….
