From sore throat to eyes' delight

Saigon to Hanoi

We are in the presidential suite of the Hanoi Paradise Hotel. The place smells like an ashtray. It didn't smell like this when we arrived this morning and we've just returned from a two hour walk. The young man at reception swears he is the only one who smokes here and he didn't go near the room. I'm sick to B***dy death of having a sore throat and headache from smokers. OK, I'm whinging. It's been a pretty awful 34 hours on the train and we're weary. Reminded me/us of India and because of that we've reduced our India trip even more. (It seems that whoever lives upstairs chain smokes and that smoke gathers in the stairwell and is swept under our door)

Great train journeys of the world – NOT

We were picked up from our Saigon hotel at 5.30pm, by our usual driver plus Hai. It was raining pretty solidly as we headed to the train station, the roads choked up as usual with scooters and general traffic. At the station Hai led us into the waiting hall, told us that the gates would open at 6.10pm and began his goodbyes. Wait a minute, we don't know what platform etc. That was easy, Hai asked the announcer to make sure she gave that info in English, also he pointed out one or two people waiting for the Hanoi train and said, follow them. And, ask any young person because they were likely to speak English and continued his goodbyes. He's been a good companion guide for us but now left us feeling a little naked when we actually needed some help. Never mind, we wandered over to the gate (a little like departures at an airport only scruffy, overcrowded and smelly), and there above was a signal board with 5 platform numbers, trains with train numbers, were pictured at the platforms that were being used, so we easily matched up our tickets with the train on platform 1. We waited until the stampede was over then headed to our carriage, hauled ourselves up and found our compartment. Not very impressed with the quality of the train or the compartments, our bunks were at least on floor level. Pity the people who had to climb up to the top bunks. The seats were pretty grotty and hard but with an eiderdown, pillow and single sheet. The toilets were pretty shocking with no paper either in the squat or western one. At one end of the carriage were two bathroom style washbasins where you could do your other ablutions if you felt like an audience.

A young man joined us and a little later a younger woman. They were both getting off at 6.00am. The train left on time and before long the devils on board gathered at the end of the carriage for loud chatter and smoking. No-one enforces no smoking rules in this country. It was a lot better in both Laos and Cambodia. With lighting shows in the direction we were travelling in, our train rattled on into the night at speeds of up to at least 80kph though It felt faster at times in the night. Any time the train had to slow down the breaks would suddenly shudder with bone jarring jerks. Food and snack sellers wheeled up and down, so if we hadn't catered for ourselves we would have found something to eat. As the passengers started to settle for the night, not including the devils, the air con took effect for about an hour and near froze us so that we got under the covers.

That wore off before long because the air flow was turned to low and now we just used the sheet and sweated. The devils sat up most of the night. Don't think for a moment that I didn't go and ask them to stop smoking, but just succeeded in looking like a foreign idiot. I know from my own experience that smokers can't smell themselves or the pollution they create so the rest of us just had to put up. It wasn't easy sleeping on those bunks. Better than the wooden planks in India but we aren't there yet. I don't think anyone on board had a restful night. We then had the compartment to ourselves until midday when we pulled into Da Nang. Mid morning a young back packer was rushing up and down the corridor and then came looking under our bunks and Howard asked him what he wanted. Someone stole his camera while he slept he said. He was then upset because none of the conductors made a fuss of him. He wanted every one searched. Pitied the poor boy, but if his camera had been stolen, it would have walked off the train at 6.00am.

At Da Nang, a hard to understand young man in uniform came and offered us a compartment in the VIP end of the train for $US40 extra. It seems that extra carriages had been added and these were run by another company. We would be the only ones in the compartment and we would be fed to boot! Why not, we were dreading the thought of being joined by chatterers, devils and/or children for the next 18 hours. And so it was that we ended up in a carriage mostly full of whiteys and a few devils who smoked in their compartments with their doors closed and so their effect was less and, we got toilet paper in the toilets! There wasn't a great difference in the comfort level though we did have made up bedding and the windows were just a bit cleaner. So just after 6.00pm we had delivered to us a plastic bag with two styro-packs, chicken bits with something that looked like cherry tomatoes but spiced and sour – how many pieces can you cut a bird into? It looked like mostly neck bones but Howard didn't complain. Rice, super salted omelette and super salted cabbage. We ate most of what was there. By now I have really had chilli over kill, while it works wonders on the metabolism, my tummy doesn't really like it that much. We read a lot while on the train and that's not to say that we didn't spend hours looking out at the scenery, especially north of Da Nang where the rail hugged the coast for quite a distance. Our main reason for taking the train was to see some of the country side. Please, don't anyone thinking if visiting Vietnam, make our mistake.

Somehow, the train arrived in Hanoi nearly half an hour early. We eventually found our guide who was waiting at carriage 9 while we'd been up in No. 13 and got off the platform while he started to panic. We're here now until 8.30pm when we will be picked up again for the overnight train to Sapa, up in the mountains to the west. This hotel, while the people try so hard (they welcomed us this morning with a drink and cold towel), doesn't come up to the Bong Sen Annex in Saigon. There's no restaurant here. Our room for the day, while pretty big and comfortable, leaves a bit to be desired in the bathroom fit out. For one thing, the grouting between the tub and wall is cracked and flaked and the tub, when you stand in it doesn't have any support underneath and its quite high off the floor. We have an electric kettle, I've checked and it works, we have fresh milk and will be having afternoon coffee soon. The internet doesn't work although we also have a desktop in our room so double bugger. We won't be in the same large room when we return from Sapa so no extras then and hopefully no clouds of smoke.

The train trip seemed to knock us about, Howard is having his second nap already while I write. Er, maybe not for long, someone upstairs is hammering away. We are in the old quarter of Hanoi, the streets here are narrow and though busy, the traffic has to be slower so it doesn't feel quite so frightening as Saigon and, driving in this morning, ahead of us was a scooter with a couple and a butchered, headless pig on back. We passed the meat district, animals – ribs etc, being cut up on the street corner, plenty of guts.

Shopkeepers here haven't rushed out to beg us to buy stuff like they did in Saigon.

Well, that's all for now. We'll write from Sapa as we have four nights there, so it will be relaxing. (We are now in Sapa and while I have to sit in the hotel lobby to post this newsletter, at least I will now be able to keep up to date for a while and upload the photos. By the way, it's lovely here and a bit cooler. More soon)