Mishap Managed

“Show this to the passengers,” my friend told me in Japanese as she handed me a piece of paper which had instructions in Vietnamese. Another friend and I were just about to board a train from Da Nang to Hoi An.

My Vietnamese friend warned me that the locals wouldn’t be able to speak English but we weren’t alarmed. We said goodbye and settled in for the almost 4 hour trip.

It was immediately clear that only locals rode the train. It was noisy, old and dusty. There was a distinct smell of dried fish and sweat.There were metal bars on the windows. It was early morning but there was barely any light and the shadows made everything look harsh and rugged. There were mats on the floor and under the seats, mats with people lying on them. Some people were sitting with their feet on the opposite seats, others were reading or peeling fruits with knives. My friend and I were nervous but we just laughed at the scene.

My friend started drifting off to sleep. Too afraid that we would miss our stop, or worse, I stayed awake.

I noticed that the people who sat closest to us were talking about us. They kept glancing at me and pointing at our big bags. I just smiled at them.

One of them pointed to me and spoke in Vietnamese. I frantically shouted, “Sorry, only English”. She was younger than the other passengers. She tried again and shouted at the end, “Where?”

“Philippines,” I answered. Then I thought, maybe she isn’t asking about where we’re from but where we’re going. With wild hand gestures and in broken English I tried to explain that we were going to Hoi An. They laughed. Frustrated, I showed them the piece of paper with the Vietnamese instructions. They started talking and finally nodded.

Happy that they finally understood me, I started to tell them about us. They just kept smiling and nodding. The young woman prompted me with one word questions, “Days? Friends? Food?”. I continued telling them about our trip.

My friend woke up and I was still talking, loudly and in broken English.

One of the old women listening stopped me, and offered us some tea. We were surprised but we accepted with big smiles. She took out a knife and started peeling what looked like a green mango. She offered us a slice and again we accepted. We drank and ate and stayed quiet for the rest of the trip.