After a dozen or so buses we were in the mood for a different mode of transportation. That being the “I don't want to die on a bus” mood. The obvious option for us was a train, because we LOVE them, for lots of reasons....
1.They go slowly so you can see the country side.
2. You can drink as much water as you want because there are toilets on board. We are permanently dehydrated because we have to withhold water from our bodies before and during a bus ride, because they barely stop for potty breaks.
3. You can take a night train and just sleep through it all, waking in the morning to a brand new place.
4. The nickname Kamikaze drivers only applies to the bus drivers of Vietnam, not the train engineers.
5. Pete gets to smoke whenever he feels like it.
6. A vendor selling delicious iced coffees comes around every few hours and you can drink as many as you want. See # 2
7. Indians and outlaws chase trains...murders happen on trains.....Doc Brown can transport Michael J Fox through time on a train.....beautiful women get tied to the train tracks by mustachioed villains.....beatniks write stories about stow away hobos in train boxcars...... armed missile arrowheads get tied to trains by John Travolta....which all explains why Pete and I think trains are a nostalgic and romantic way to travel.
8. When writing about trains the you get to use the word mustachioed.
We took a train ride from Danang to Hanoi. The first part of the ride was spent gazing at deserted beaches, rice paddies, and tiny Vietnamese villages. The second part was spent snoozing away on our padded berths. Twelve hours later we woke in Hanoi with our bladders empty and our nerves intact. Compared to the way we have been traveling this is pure luxury.
Natasha