South East Asia 2017 - Day 31: Hoi An to Train SE21
Monday 4 September, cloudy, fine, 30°
We were up at 6:30am, quick breakfast downstairs and then into our taxi at 7:30am, and arrived at the train station at 8:30am ( D280,000 / NZ$16 or the taxi )
We sat in the waiting room, waiting for our train which was due to arrive at 9:40am. A train pulled in at 9:30am, we got up to get on board and were told by the station attendant that it was not for us. Once everyone had left the waiting area for that train, they locked all the doors to stop anyone walking out to the platform, and then our train pulled in between the train that had just loaded up and the platform. So the doors got unlocked and we went out, found our carriage and jumped on board. Danang is an unusual station in that the trains head out the same direction they came in, so the engine that pulls them into the station moves to the other end of the train to pull out again. Once that was done we pulled out at 10:00am.
For this trip we got the upper level bunks, which makes it a bit harder to look out the windows ( downstairs was occupied by a lady and her niece and nephew. The nephew spoke English but the other 2 didn't ) so we spent most of the day just lying on our beds catching up on admin and listening to music and podcasts. To be honest it was nice to ' switch off' a bit from being a tourist.
Later in the day as we headed up a valley south of Qui Nhon we stood in the corridor and watched the scenery pass, and the little villages that are located along the rail corridor. As the sun set we got back to the coast and saw lots of fishing villages, and more graveyards.
Once is was dark we grabbed some dinner from the trolley man ( chicken curry, rice, bread etc ) and settled in for the night. The train seemed to make lots of stops over night, and that combined with Liz getting the start of a cold made for a restless night.
We are due in Ho Chi Minh at 7am so it could be a long day tomorrow.