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