Long Day Train Journey

Today was always going to be one of those long, arduous and non-eventful days, but I'll write about it anyway.

Entry to Museum

It started with our 1 hour van ride from our hotel in Hoi An to Danang. We had to go to Danang because that is where we had to catch our very long 11 hour train to Nha Trang in the southern regions of Vietnam.

Normally I can handle uncomfortable situations but this one was hideous. Everything about the trip was awful. It took about 15 minutes to simply get on the train because the local Vietnamese thought it to be a good idea to get off the train to do whatever business they needed to do as the passengers were attempting to get on the train. As I travel through Asia, I am losing my politeness... that's what the locals do... simply push and shove your way through. I'm sure China will be even more interesting:)

Museum Piece 1

I got on the train (just), and had absolutely nowhere to put my bulging bag except in the aisle. After a few nasty words, I was ordered to put my bag in the very small space between seats... so where could I put my legs you ask? Nowhere. I settled for hunching my legs on top of my bag. If the journey was going to be an hour or so, I could probably have handled it. But I knew that this trip was going to be 11 hours... how could I get through it? To make matters worse, our group was seated in the opposite way in which the train went. The other group members had slim backpacks which enabled them to put their bags in the very small compartments above the seat. Up to this trip, my backpack has been perfect but on this particular train, it was definitely not the right type!

Museum Piece 2

Poor Hannah, sitting next to me, she had to put her legs up as well. As we got into the trip, I spilt my beer everywhere... enough to get the whole carriage's attention. I won't repeat what I said when this happened (children reading!)... use your imagination. I thought I would try to numb the experience by having a beer or two, but I ended up wearing it instead. The aisle way had a huge puddle which I created...

Anh came to the rescue by providing an additional seat for Hannah whilst I cleaned up the mess. A few people ended up going to the drink's carriage which allowed me to put my bag eleswhere. This freed up a lot of room and made for a much better, but terribly long and arduous train journey. Definitely my worst trip in South East Asia so far and definitely worth a laugh after the event.

Museum Piece 3

I was so relieved to arrive in Nha Trang but basically fell to the ground on disembarking the train... out of dizziness if anything. But Nha Trang has definitely made up for it by being the most impressive town/city in Vietnam so far. I'm really happy to be here... more to come.

Museum Piece 4

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