Tag: Vietnam Train

Sicker

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Yep, the trekking was too much.  I don’t feel any better, maybe worse.  It feels different so I think I may have caught something else while my immune system was down.  I just sat at coffee shops yesterday and worked.  Erin and Louise were happy to have a down day to catch up on emails and stuff so they hung most of the day with me.  Not sure what Annalise did.  Today, I felt worse yet, but still went on a hike to a viewpoint over the town.  It went through one of the strangest parks I’ve ever seen with scary statues, gardens, big rocks, a homestay and steep trails.  The viewpoint was great, but I shouldn’t have gone.  I’m just miserable now.  My computer doesn’t feel good either.  It will no longer recognize wifi signals.  It says there are no wifi connections when my phone sees over 20.  I spent 2 hours running trouble shooters which I already thought were useless and I’m now convinced are.  I did a system refresh which deleted every preference and app I had.  It didn’t delete my files though.  Still nothing.  I have Engineering work that needs to be done asap and I will not be able to do lesson plans without a computer.  I basically cannot survive without one.  I know Erin bought a computer in Thailand and it was reasonably priced and works well.  I will try to get it fixed in Hanoi tomorrow, but I don’t have much faith that is possible.  I will probably have to mail it back to the US to get fixed or replaced.  I feel completely defeated and just so tired.  I find it interesting how attached we are to our electronics.  I remember a time when I was able to survive without a cell phone and a computer.   We just connected with each other, made better plans and went to a place of business to work.  So, I’m still attached to my electronics.

We took another bus back to the train station to take the night train back to Hanoi.  I kinda excited about the night train.  I think the rocking will help lull me to sleep and maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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Foggy Sapa

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

We arrived at the train station at 6:00am.  What’s my name?  A sweet lady shows up with sticky rice.  So I bought some thinking it would be like Thai sticky rice.  Oh no, it wasn’t.  It was tasteless patties of white goo that I was supposed to buy sausage to go with.  You make a rice goo sausage sandwich.  I ate one and decided I never needed to eat that again.  We waited out front of the train station for our shuttle.  It was a zoo of taxi drivers hassling us and backpackers everywhere.  Later it turns out one of the taxi drivers that was bugging us actually was our shuttle.  If he had a sign with our name or the hostel’s name on it, we would have gone with him sooner.  He finally showed us a confirmation email.  The ride to Sapa was at least an hour from the train station, maybe more.  It’s wet and foggy and everything is damp.  Omg, the streets of Sapa are so narrow and steep.  There were buses, motorbikes and hikers everywhere barely missing each other by inches.  I’m not sure how you even get a motorbike up the steepness of these roads.  It’s very cold and everything is wet and muddy.

We got to the hostel and didn’t have the private room we were promised.  Annalise took the last bottom bunk and the shower was cold.  There were no lockers or any way to lock up our valuables.  I felt very flustered and unhappy.  So, I decided I could just feel unhappy or I could change my situation so I asked if there was a private room I could upgrade to.  There was so I did that.

We set out in the cold foggy weather to see Sapa.  They sold “North Face” jackets, hiking boots, backpacks and other gear in every other store.  I didn’t want to buy more clothes, but I was freezing so I got leggings, a hat and gloves.  The North Face jackets were $15-$25.  I ended up buying one of those, not because I needed one, but because I have a jacket problem.

We went to the pharmacy because both Erin and I are sick.  In Thailand, you often skip the doctor and go straight to the pharmacy and the pharmacists speak English so we figured it might be the same in Vietnam.  She didn’t speak English and I doubt she was a pharmacist, but after a short game of guess this illness charades, we both had a pile of drugs.  Mine were sinus drainage drugs and an antibiotic.  So, if I have a sinus infection, that should work.  Fingers crossed.

We holed up most of the afternoon in a restaurant that had a fireplace and fabulous ginger tea.  We wandered around town a little, but it wasn’t really pleasant.  We signed up for a tour that included a waterfall and trekking through the tribal villages and rice fields for tomorrow.  Hopefully the fog clears enough to see something.  After dinner, I had a massage.  It was in a cold room and the massage was mediocre at best.  I miss Thai massage already.  She did do a lot of work on my face and head which felt great on my sinuses and hopefully helped!  The fog is creepy, but in a fabulous way at night.  I enjoyed walking back to the hostel in it.

I got back to my private hostel room and was met by the smell of mildew.  In the dark, it’s creepy.  There are cobwebs everywhere and it just feels gross, cold and wet.  It’s too late to do anything now, but first thing tomorrow, I’m going to book a room at the hotel next door which got good reviews.  It’s more expensive, but at this point I don’t care.  It’s official, I’m too old for hostels.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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Look carefully, those are dead squirrels as decoration

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Ha!
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Tiny coffee with candle to keep it warm
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Disco Lights in my scary hostle room

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Vietnam

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

We left in the morning and flew from Chaing Mai to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Hanoi.  Switching planes in Bangkok was a challenge.  I wasn’t sure I had a long enough lay over, but it worked out well.  Had to get my luggage, then go check in for my international flight and check my bag.  Some people need a visa to go to Vietnam or at least an intent to get a visa letter.  USA is one of the countries that needs that.  I had applied for my letter and had no problem checking in, but the people in front of me were not prepared and got turned away for the flight.  Getting in to Vietnam, we had to hand in our letter and then wait for the visa and pay for the visa which took quite a while.  We were supposed to pay the fee in US$ or VND, but all I had was Baht and there was no place to exchange money.  They let us pay in baht – yay!  Louise is from Scottland and didn’t need a visa at all.

Erin was already at the airport and Louise, Annalise and I were all on the same flight.  We exchanged money and headed out to find a taxi.  There was a taxi stand with a line of taxis.  I figured, as in most places, we just go to the first taxi.  Some guy kept asking if we needed a taxi and telling us $20 to the train station.  We just had to wait 3 minutes.  At some point when I figured we had missed the front of the line, I decided I wasn’t going wait for him when there was a line of taxis already.  He was livid and started screaming at us and the taxi driver whose car we got in.  Welcome to Vietnam.

It was a long drive to the train station, but since our train didn’t leave until late, that was ok.  We got dropped off and went in to find Gate 6 which is where we were supposed to pick up our tickets.  There was no gate 6, just a door 2.  Nothing looked right at the station.  Something was very off, but of course I have no idea, just the knowledge that this isn’t right.  Someone directed us to Track 6, but that wasn’t it either.  No one spoke English, no one.  By now, I’ve figured out that there are two stations and the other station should be on the other side of the tracks, but I can’t see a station anywhere.  Finally, a lady motioned me to walk to the end of the platform and turn left.  I turn around to find my friends and almost get run over as about 20 motorbikes come tearing down the platform.  What a strange place to drive a motorbike.  I guess they came off a train.  We walked to the end of the platform and crossed a bunch of tracks and headed toward what looked like an abandoned warehouse, but right around the corner was another train station.  There were only 2 people in the station, but we found gate 6.  So then we headed out to find some food.

I wouldn’t think that Vietnam could feel, look, sound and smell so different from Thailand, but it is so completely different.  It doesn’t even feel real.  And all we have seen is the airport and the train station and it’s already vastly different.  There are more motorbikes here than I’ve seen anywhere, ever.  The driving was insane.  Dinner was ok – small hole in the wall local restaurant.  A bunch of people were having what looked like Korean BBQ where you grill the food yourself on a table top grill.  We wanted that.  An old lady had us point at food in a window and fixed us plates of rice with the food we pointed at.  There was no menu and having the grill did not appear to be an option for us.  At this point, it was too much work to do anything else so we ate the already cooked food.  It was pretty good, nothing special.

By the time we got back to the train station, there were a lot more people there and we were able to get our tickets (we had already paid for them, but had to exchange an emailed voucher for the actual ticket).  We still had over an hour before we could get on the train, but at least we were positive we were in the right place now.

The train wasn’t luxury by any means, but is was very nice for how cheap it was.  Our room had 4 bunk beds in it and nice thick comforters.  It was three of us and a random guy in our room.  Louise was on another car because she had bought her ticket later.  The guy in our room was very nice, spoke great English and was very respectful.  He owned one of the first guide companies in the area we are going to and goes back and forth between Hanoi and Sapa often.  I don’t sleep well in new places so I didn’t get a ton of sleep, but it was pretty comfortable overall.  This is the first time I’ve taken a sleeper train anywhere so that was cool.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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