Night train from Hanoi

5-6Feb
Overnight train from Hanoi, to Hue in mid-Vietnam. A real Michael Palin moment!


On the Reunification Express, which runs from Hanoi to Saigon in 36 hours, sleeper compartments each have 4 "soft" beds. Its cheap (£25), so you can't expect the Orient Express, but the bunks are functional enough; there's aircon, a flushing loo at the end of the carriage and three stainless steel handbasins so you can brush your teeth shoulder to shoulder with your new found friends.


30 minutes before departure and the westerners are anxiously loitering around the carriage, wondering who else will turn up to occupy their precious space. Whilst the train was supposedly full, all the bottom bunks appeared to be unallocated, except in one compartment where there was a family of about 15 locals! We were expecting the same, but the train pulled away at 11pm precisely and we had the luxury of 2 people per compartment.


The train doesn't seem to run faster than around 50kph, so progress to Hue, 600km to the south was steady, if nothing else. Its a single track, so approaching trains have to wait in sidings for Reunification Express to pass! There were couple of spine jarring moments when it crossed the points but other than that, the whole experience was pretty painless.


We arrived in Hue, Vietnam's old imperial city, at 11am, refreshed and ready for an afternoon of hard tourist action!

The squatting bloke in the picture was one of several who refill the train with fresh water at major stops. They plug in their hoses, squat a while, wait for a whistle to blow, then remove the hose again before the train pulls away - there's work on the railways.....
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/scuba50/ReunificationExpress?feat=directlink