I walk to Hanoi train station (the northbound side) to meet my friends to catch the overnight train to Lao Cai. We've glitzed it up by booking seats in a "soft seat" cabin.
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| Balla. |
ProTip: The northbound trains leave from the western side of the station on Trần Quý Cáp (you have to travel around the block to get there) and the southbound trains leave from the east side of the station on Lê Duẩn.
My friends bring out the entertainment for the night - a pack of cards - and procede to play vietnamese poker. I watch and try and learn how to play but it makes no sense to me and I don't quite fancy the idea of being completely covered in makeup at the end of it as punishment for losing.
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| I see your ox and raise you three chickens |
Eventually in the wee hours of the morning we attempt to go to sleep.
Damn it's hot in here.
It just keeps getting hotter and hotter - almost impossible to sleep. The air-con doesn't seem to be working.
Not sleeping. Not sleeping.
A strong, weird metallic smell wafts through the cabin. Half of the cabin gets up and runs down to the next caboose. It turns out the air-con has crapped it's pants so I go and hang out in the next car for a while - it's the hard seat cabin. Funnily enough - the cabin literally has hard seats made of wood.
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| Recommended by your local chiropractor. |
It may be the cheap seats, but it's oh so heavenly in here with air-con cranking. After a lengthy stop at a train platform, word gets through the Vietnamese ranks that the air-con has been fixed so we all head back to our seats and set off again. It's still rather warm though and lack of sleep ensues. It's becoming apparent that the air-con is still not working, and eventually another waft of metallic scent combined with a cloud of odd looking smoke comes barreling down the cabin.
It wasn't me.
"Everybody to the next cabin!" one of the uniformed staff shouts (in Vietnamese of course - I am fluent don't you know...) and everybody hurriedly grabs their bags and rushes into the hard seat cabin to find a seat for the rest of the journey. I sit next to two old men and we exchange nods and smiles.
A middle-aged woman gets on at one of the train stations and starts selling corn to passengers. She stops and starts selling some cobs to a couple directly opposite me when somebody further down the carriage yells out. The woman looks down the corridor past my head, quickly shoves her basket of goods under the table and then proceeds to half run, half trot the other way down the train - chased by a uniformed guard. I guess he didn't catch her because in 5 minutes she's back to pick up her basket and continue selling her wares.
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| Quick!! Catch her!!! Nap. |
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