Overnight on the Reunification Express

16 November, Reunification Express, Danang to Ninh Binh

Our trip from Hoi An back to Danang was far less eventful than our previous journey. The taxi was a fairly flash Camry and the driver was happy just to take us where we wished rather than attempting to divert us to tourist sights or his uncle's trinket shop.

Enormous luxury resorts line much of the road between Danang and Hoi An. A couple are adjacent to mega golf courses and casinos. The sight of the Red Star of the Communist Vietnamese government looks somewhat incongruous flying over a five star resort and even more so fluttering in front of an enormous casino, but that is the new Vietnam for you.

Knowing we had a fairly long afternoon, we asked the driver to drop us off at the local Big C, a supermarket and shopping centre chain. To our glee, the centre had a Multiplex Cinema. Well of course it did! So we put in a pleasantly cool afternoon watching the latest 007 movie, Skyfall. A quick shop for provisions for our overnight train trip and off to the station, just in time for the 4:50pm bound for Hanoi, well just to Nimh Binh for us. We are a little apprehensive about our trip in the 'soft sleepers'. Most of the reviews on places like Trip Advisor are fairly negative, so we have armed ourselves with 'pure Vietnamese silk' sleeping bag liners, at the princely sum of $6.50 each. We have a bag of snacks and plenty of water. All we need now is for the beer cart to come around.

So far we don't have a problem with our accommodation. We have a four berth sleeper to ourselves, though that might change as more people get on the train. The bedding is fairly clean and the air conditioner works. There is boiling water at the end of the carriage for our dried noodle meals and the toilets 'just' pass inspection, but it is early days in that department. We even have 220V power outlets to run and charge our devices, so we may even have a movie or two later in the trip. We don't want to speak too soon , but it seems fine so far. 

17 November, Reunification Express - Ninh Binh

Not the best night's sleep we have ever had, but reasonable given the comings and goings in our compartment. For a few hours we had the 4-berths to ourselves, but a couple of locals arrived and took up the top bunks. For some reason they didn't appreciate our company and asked the guard for a shift. Could it have been the beer smells emanating from the rubbish bin or what we had eaten for dinner? A couple more punters came and went during the night, but our non-human visitors were restricted to a couple of (now deceased) cockroaches and a very small, inquisitive mouse. All in all, the Reunification Express is definitely not for the faint-hearted or precious, but a worthwhile experience nonetheless. Would we do it again? Maybe. A sleeper bus would be way more comfortable and probably about the same price, but then there's the kamikaze tendencies of Vietnamese drivers to weigh up! One last tip for anybody considering the experience, book the lower bunks. You get a small table between the two bunks which makes eating, sitting, reading  or writing easy. Those on the top bunks have little alternative to lying down the whole time.