I'm not so sure where I left off....(and the computer is telling me that every word is mispelled - arrggg)
I arrived at the train with no problem; Ruby had called me a cab. I easily read my train ticket (having looked up on Google how to do so before I left). I had booked an Air-Con Soft Sleeper Car - the most expenisve ticket you can get on the "Reuinification Express." I paid extra to get my ticket ahead of time and delivered to my hotel, as the tickets do sell out (or so they claimed - but it did look to be the case, since I didn't see too many cells without a full house in them)...
I shared my pod/cell, at first, with two Vietnamese people who did not speak any English: a man and a woman about my age. Right before we pulled out, a very young (very pretty) English girl joined our cabin. Her name is Alex, and she had just finished her barister exam and has been traveling SE Asia for about 4.5 months. The Vietnamese woman in our cabin was in love with Alex - as soon as Alex arrived, the woman jumped off her top bunk and started stroking her skin and hair (something that would have creeped me out, but Alex seemed to handle it quite well). The Vietnamese man and woman went to bed shortly, and Alex and I stayed up talking for a little while.
The cabin was OK - my light didn't work - but the Air-Con did. The bunks were well equipted with a firm, but nice, mattress, a pillow and a duvet. The linens were clean and crisp. The bathroom down the hall, however, was literally a metal piss bucket. It was pretty gross. Each train had its own bathroom (with toilet), and every other car had a washing station: three basins with soap and a mirror. I don't know what I was expecting - Wes Andersons' Darjeeling? Orient Express? The train was pretty bare bones, considering that the ticket cost about as much as it would have cost to fly the same distance on a budget airline. I, maybe foolishly, really wanted to ride a train. So I did.
I brushed my teeth, and headed to bed.
Surprisingly, I slept fabulously. So did Alex. We awoke early and watched the beautiful scenerly outside. The snack cart came by once more, but I had brought peanuts and I had pilfered powdered coffee from the Ruby, so I was able to provide my own snacks. Every other train car had a large basin with boiling water that passengers could use for tea or powdered soups. It came in handy.
While trying to retrieve my coffee, I realized I had a major problem. I had read several accounts of how people had their bags stolen from the train when they went to the toilet, so I bought a special bag-lock in the US and I had locked my bag to my train bed he night before. In the morning, the lock appeared jammed. Well, it didn't appear jammed - it was jammed. My bag was stuck. Alex helped me flag down train personell who were utterly unwilling to help me with my bag dillema. We saw a train worker with bolt cutters who would not let us use them. Finally, we were able to get a cooking knife off on of the train workers and I sawed the fabric part of my bag off around the lock. Problem solved!Bag ruined. I took a silly picture of the lock, still attached to the bedpost- ah, memories. My obsessive overpacking came in handy, because I had pleanty of safty pins I then used to reconstruct my bag.
We arrived in Hue and Alex and I decided to walk to our respective hotels (she had booked the Hue Backpackers - for $6 a night it is supposed to be one of the best hostels in Vietnam, but it is also a major party scene - so I had booked a mid-range place named HueNino.) The walk was much longer than expect, and it was legitimatly HOT. For the first time since my trip began, I really felt hot. But, the heat didn't last for long. I arrived at Hue Nino, greeted by a super friendly staff. They prepaired me breakfast (even though I had arrived at noon) of one egg, sunny side up (which I ate all of except the runny yellow bit), toast with homemade passion fruit jam, and some really excellent coffee. Yum. I ate my meal and the retired to my room for a shower.
The room was really nicely decorated with old dark wood furniture. It was a small room, but very beautiful - like a B&B more than a hotel. The bathroom was beautiful and small. The shower head rained down on what looked like a child sized coffin (which was meant to be the bathtub). I stood awkwardly in the small coffin and let the shower cool me off. The drain from the coffin fed directly onto the floor of the bathroom, which lead to a drain off in the corner of the room. Strange, but still refreshing.
I then walked to Hue Backpackers to meet up with Alex. There I sat down with two other young british women, Bev and Daisy. Bev and Daisy were both British students who have been backpacking through Thailand for a month. They gave me some good tips about Bangkok, and some good gossip about the American boys they had met that they now intend to visit in New Mexico. The adored American accents, but only on men, apparantly. Oh well.
It then began to rain - DOWNPOUR - so I stayed at the hostel and ordered some beers and listened to young people talk about their travels. As far as I can tell, most 22 year old british kids travel for cheap booze and to get laid (preferably by American men, or European women). I asked student after student about this pagota or that temple, and it seemed like they hadn't bothered going to any of the sites. They told me about this bar, and that club - and their friend who fucked a she-male....but no real sight-seeing. The most interesting story I heard was from a british threesome who decided to book a "trip" through Hanoi Backpackers to eat a snake heart. They went to a restaurant where they each paid to have a live snake presented to them. One of the locals would make a small incision in the belly of the beast and you were intended to bite the beating heart out of the snake BUT not to chew on the heart, as chewing could lead to paralizis. So, they all ate hearts (or bit them out of the body) and sucked the hearts down with disgusting rice wine. All of them told me how they could feel the heart beating when it went down their throats. Ug. Now, one of their friends started to instinctivly chew the heart, at which point his face went numb and he passed out. Not to worry! There was a nurse standing by for just such an occasion.
Anyway, they all told me I had missed out. Difference of opinion on that one, I think.
After the rain let up, Alex and I decided to rent a motorbike in order to explore Hue (which, after our walk, we realized was much larger than we first thought). Alex drove the bike and I rode on the back. She had been getting lots of practice driving them around in Hanoi while she was visiting her best friend who now works in Hanoi's WWF (Wildlife, not wrestling). Riding on the bike was so nice and cool (the rain had also cooled down the city a bit). We were able to ride all around the crumbling citadel, out into the suburbs, and into the countryside. We drove out to the mountains, saw oxen bathe in muddy water, saw corn fields, and beautiful beautiful farm land. It was the perfect way to see Hue.
In the country side, children came up to us smiling and waving - and old man insisted we stop so he could practice his english on us - and in the "suburbs" of Hue we saw all kinds of wares being sold off of mopeds. The bikes would have a little speaker yelling out what they were selling, so workers in the factories (around that area there were quite a few make-shift lumber mills) can hear what is being sold and run into the street if they want to buy it - sort of like an ice cream truck - EXCEPT the mopeds are selling meat that they cook right there on a burner attached to the bike. It looks so dangerous! Oh well....
At dusk we ventured back toward the city and followed the perfume river, where we saw the lanterns being lit and sent down stream. It was so beautiful. We also stumbled upon many of the ruins I had intended to go see - many of them we had to wander around in the dark to explore. It felt scandalous wandering around the ruins at night, like we were interlopers. It reminded me of the begining of "Passage to India" where the older woman wanders around the temple at night. Very, very beautiful. We also stumbled upon a school for young monks, and watched them for awhile....young boys in rooms full of books, sitting at tables chatting and reading....
Once it got really too dark to see we headed back to the backpackers hostel. We met back up with Bev and Daisy and ventured on foot around the city to find this vegetarian restaurant the guidebook recommended. We did end up finding the restaurant, just as they were closing (and it looked super lovely too!). We ended up walking back to the backpackers section of town where we ate at a small restaurant which served Vietnamese dishes, as well as pasta and french fries (!?!). I had tofu with tomatoes - a dish I've seen here quite a bit - it was very good and I scarfed it down.
After dinner (10pm) I was so tired I had to go back to the hotel for bed - I left the young ones to go off to party - and made the short journy back to my hotel.
The hotel lobby (HueNino) had the strangest decor: child-like drawings, plastic dolls stapled to the wall, post it notes from tourists, American movie posters...so strange. The rooms, however, were all decorated like a late 19th C colonial French/Vietnamese style. I think I got some good pictures.
And one last note - this time about Hanoi - Alex told me that on the West River (where I had my coffee yoghurt) young lovers will rent paddle boats late at night and go out and have sex in them! Since so many young people live with their families until they get married, there are little opportunites for privacy. I guess the little swan boats afford a little (but not much) privacy....
Now I'm in Hoi An - which looks like a Hollywood Movie set of 19th C Vietnam (drop dead beautiful at night). I will try my best to update you on Hoi An tomorrow. Sneak peak: bus breaks down, I go crazy and buy lots of shoes.....
