My twelve hour train journey to Huế.
Well, when it rains it pours. It actually rained heavily all through the night, but stopped and was nice and cool by 6 am. The rain didn’t deter the roosters from starting their performance at 3:30 am though, and continuing throughout the entire day, until their shift finally ends and they catch a few hours shut eye, and it didn’t deter the 6 am radio person either. All part of the local scene. Actually, it’s not a radio. as Duyên explained when I met her in the lobby, but loa phường, a Vietnamese tradition dating back to the war, in which at 6 am a neighborhood loudspeaker plays a 15-minute broadcast to the village that includes local news and information, government and public service announcements, and wake up music, intended to energize the village for the work day.
I was down in the lobby around 7:15, where Duyên said she’d call me a taxi for the maybe 15-minute ride to the station, which is in Ninh Binh proper. She is so lovely – she had made up a small care package of snacks and water for me to take on my journey today. Unnecessary of course, but very thoughtful and very nice. Cuing was also there to say goodbye. So nice. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to say goodbye to Hiền also, who heads back to university in Hanoi today. I asked Duyên to say goodbye for me, and thanked her for her kindness, generosity, and hospitality. She also said she was sorry about the roosters, but they belong to the neighbours, but she also said you get used to it, and it’s just part of country life. The taxi came, I exchanged short hugs with both Duyên and Cuing, and off I went. I really should have taken a photo of them, but didn’t think to until just now.
The Tam Coc Main main street was both quiet at this time of the morning, and wet from the night’s rain. I haven’t seen it this empty, or wet. The taxi ride, just under $4, was straightforward, and I was once again reminded of the rules of the road here: watch out for yourself, take or make every possible opening, don’t get hit, and try not to hit anyone else. That’s seems to be equally the case for drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
This actually is the first time I seen Ninh Binh, which is much more of a small city/town than Tam Coc, and significantly larger. As we entered the main street, I saw two giant stone pillars with ornate dragon heads on top. I really would like to have been able to walk around the town and visit, and take some photos. Well, next time.
As I sat in the station waiting room, I was struck by how loud some Vietnamese talk with one another, which I’ve noticed since coming to Tam Coc in particular. The people sitting behind me in the waiting room, for instance, were virtually yelling at one other, in good humored, but extremely loud, conversation, interspersed with laughter, although loud talk like this is certainly not the norm. I noticed it quite a bit on the long train journey today, as well. It’s cultural for sure, but sort of bewildering, nevertheless.
While waiting for the train, I took a stroll through the mini mart in the station and couldn’t help buying myself a bar of Cadburys, which at $4 was relatively expensive compared to how inexpensive everything else is. It’s still half the price of Cadburys in the U.S. though. Also, looking at my backpack, resting against the seats in the waiting room, I couldn’t help but think of “Homeward Bound,” by Simon & Garfunkel. I’m not really wanting to be homeward bound, though.
One of the first things I did once the journey was underway was send a WhatsApp message to Duyên, thanking her for everything, and then posted reviews of the hotel to various online sites. Least I could do.
Four hours into the almost 12-hour journey to Huế, I’d seen nothing special for scenery. We passed through the outskirts of small cities and towns as the train made local stops, seeing the backs of buildings and homes, and as we left the towns we passed along green and largely flat fields with mountains in the distant background, periodically dotted with small water filled or marshy plots. I was hoping for, and sort of expected, really beautiful scenery, but so far that was not the case. Aside from a few photos I took from the open bathroom window, the photos are cloudy looking because of the scratched and dirty windows they were shot through, but they at least give a flavor of the countryside and scenery we were passing along the way.
By a little over four hours into the journey, the train had really filled up, with individual passengers and families with small kids, and was pretty noisy, as people talked, laughed, and occasionally yelled at one another (in conversation, not anger), and eating. Lots of eating. And that never let up. As far as I can see, I’m the only non-local on the train, and certainly in this car. Several people have nodded hello, and smiled. I’m glad to have taken the train – but then again, I still had seven hours to go, and maybe I’d change my mind. I didn’t, and the inside scene only got better.
After another 30 or 40 minutes, as we moved further south, the scenery started to get more interesting, although still not the spectacular railway views I’d hoped for. I did my best to take photos through the pretty scratched train window, although the scenery still wasn’t the more interesting or spectacular stuff I’d hoped for. My train journey from Huế to Hội An, by way of Đà Nẵng later this week promises great scenery though, and I’ve booked my ticket on a train that stops along the way specifically for passengers to take photographs. But that’s Thursday.
Meantime, even though not super spectacular, there was some very nice scenery today, especially as we moved into more mountainous country, and more on the other side of the train car, which I could sort of see but couldn’t photograph.
The train got very busy, and very noisy, and increasingly very social. Lots of eating, with food vendors walking through the cars regularly. I particularly enjoyed the young dad with his two young kids sitting opposite me for quite a while, all the way to Huế. The kids were very cute. After they got used to me, I was just another piece of the train furnishings. After a while, their grandmother sat next to me as well, and we were quite the family unit.
The group of men in the seats just over the aisle from us were really enjoying themselves, with lots of good humored conversation and much, and endless, food, and later the beer came out, making people even more social. Everyone talking to everyone, sharing food, and, in some cases, beer, even though it’s clear they just met today on this long journey. Very much a Marrakesh Express scene, but without the animals. Great vibe. I’m really glad I took the train, and the long journey hadn’t bothered me at all. I enjoyed it.
I read a lot, and also listened to music a lot, until my ear plugs ran out of juice. For the last hour or more, it was dark so no scenery to look at, and the internet had been unavailable for at least an hour, so I mostly just watched people (and wrote this blog on my phone as I went).
I was keeping close track of my journey at this point, as the train only stops and doesn’t terminate at Huế, and then goes on all the way to Ho Chi Minh. The upcoming stations were announced in Vietnamese and in English, but the quality of the announcements and the noise on the train made it all but impossible to actually hear, or I’d hear the next stop is, then something blurry, never to be repeated. And the stations are not clearly marked. I could see station signs about half way along along the platform, but only as the train was departing the station, and by then it was useless to know which station I’d just been at. When I reached what I was pretty sure was Dong Ha, the station before Huế (although this was only confirmed once I saw the station sign on the platform as we pulled out), I made damned sure the next station was Huế, and of course people were only too happy to help out.
As we got to Huế a couple of minutes before 8 pm and prepared to disembark, almost 12 hours later, the two guys across the aisle gave me me unprompted and very authentic two-handed hand shakes, and slapped me on the back. Really nice.
Once off the train, my next step was getting to the hotel. It was only about 1½ miles from the station and sounded like a picturesque walk, but as it was by now pitch dark, it was definitely time to grab a Grab instead. It had been raining here, but by the time I left the station it was just a slight drizzle. I booked a Grab taxi no problem, which showed up within two or three minutes, but in the meantime, as seems to often be the case, every other Grab and taxi driver is trying to steal the ride. It took maybe five or six minutes to get to the Hue Four Seasons Hotel (not that Four Seasons; this is just a small, tucked away place), which was just off the Main Street in a small and narrow back street, which took me maybe a minute to walk to from where the taxi had dropped me. It was maybe 8:30 by the time I got there, and they were waiting for me. Laura (but not pronounced the western way) presented me with a welcoming cup of hot ginger tea. Not my usual drink, and I don’t think I’ve drunk a cup of tea in 30 or 40, or even more, years, and certainly not ginger tea, but, of course, I appreciated and drank it. It was actually pretty good (but not good enough for me to ever want another cup 😋).
Laura was very friendly, and gave me a quick tour of the area on the map she gave me, including local sights within walking distance along the Perfume River, which is literally less than a minute from the hotel, as well as some local places to eat. She took me to my room on the first floor (like England, the first floor here is not the ground floor, but one floor up), which is pretty decent, with a small balcony. Very nice, although just a little austere, and definitely not as nice as some of the places I’ve recently stayed, also in this price range and small hotel style, but still sort of my speed. Inexpensive accommodations. I did notice some small flying bugs dotted across the white bedsheet, which reminded me that I haven’t seen many bugs at all since starting this trip, and haven’t been bitten once. I imagine they came in through the open balcony door, which I’d opened when I arrived. I wondered if that was about to change, but happily they proved to be no problem.
I put down my bag, and headed out for a small walk, and to find a place to eat. I took a left onto another small alleyway, and within 30 seconds was at the wonderfully lit Perfume River, in the heart of the area.
I walked around for a short while, taking in the river and streets lit up at night, and found a small place to eat. It turns out they didn’t have a menu, and really served just one thing, Vietnamese Bún, a soup with rice vermicelli noodles, instead of the flat rice noodles found in Phở, and a signature dish of central Vietnam. So, as Bún was the only thing on the menu, I decided to have Bún.
Frankly, although I have very much enjoyed ramen and phở, and now bún, I don’t know if I can tell the difference. I mean, pasta is pasta, and soup is soup, and these are very similar (to me). But in this case, although the bún was tasty, it was also kind of bland, so I topped it off with a hot sausage from a street vendor. Much tastier!
The light rain had started again, and by the time I reached the street vendor and started heading back to the hotel it had increased to a steady and heavier drizzle. And then, very quickly, torrential rain. I was in shorts and sandals, and got wet very quickly, and then, even more quickly, drenched. The rain was really coming down now, pouring out of downspouts on buildings and off rooftops and shop front awnings, which the weak street drainage couldn’t keep up and the streets and many depressions in the street were filling and flooding with deep and long puddles and streams of water that were easily as deep as my feet. I was so wet, I couldn’t get any wetter, so I just gave in, and then had to figure out which of these alleyways and back streets, a real labyrinth, led back to the Four Seasons. I couldn’t figure it out, although I knew I was very close by, and stopped under a shelter on one of the back streets to go to google maps. As I suspected though, because my fingers were wet, no matter how hard I tried to dry them (I didn’t anything dry to wipe them with), and the screen was wet as well, it was impossible to use the phone, which I hurriedly rammed back into my pocket, and took off to figure it out myself instead. It didn’t take long, and I was back in my room, stripping off and drying myself, when, horror… I realized I didn’t have my phone. I had too hurriedly rammed back into my pocket and it must have fallen out. Oh boy!
Back out I went, this time with that lightweight raincoat I’ve been carrying, wondering if I really needed it, and a hotel umbrella, both of which worked well against the still very heavy rain, and with the help of my smart watch, which is linked to my phone, narrowed down the general area where the phone must be sitting right now, and knowing more-or-less where I’d been, I retraced my steps, and got to the point where the watch showed the phone was somewhere within less than four hundred yards. But where? It was dark and pouring, and the pavement was filled with deep puddles and streams of water. I wandered around, saw from my watch that I was getting further away (now the phone was within one tenth of a mile), back tracked, and then, amazingly, I saw it along an alleyway, a dark shape that I could just as easily have missed (I had no flashlight) lying in the rain. Even more amazingly, it was still working, despite lying in the raid and getting poured on for at least 20 minutes. More amazingly still, I was able to open it as my fingers were drier now, thanks to the umbrella, and I actually used google maps to get back to the Four Seasons. Glory be.
All I can say is phew! Every detail of my trip, including tickets, are on that phone. Had I lost it, it wouldn’t have been the very end of the world, but a major problem. The phone backs up daily, and I could have bought a new one and restored the back up, but how long would that have taken and how much would it have cost? Thankfully, I have an apple smart watch, or I very much doubt I would have otherwise found it.
To bed, very thankful, around 12:30.