Vietnam's Reunification Express runs between Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. The railway often gets a mention in popular lists of 'world's great rail journeys' and, if the 9 hour daytime leg that we did from Nha Trang to Danang is any indication, the journey is worthy of greatness. While the train itself falls a little short of greatness, on balance, Vietnamese Rail must be given ten points for trying. The ticketing system is state of the art and, combined with typical Vietnamese 'can-do', tickets can be booked almost anywhere and delivered to your hotel for a small fee.
We chose 'soft sitters' for the day-time journey. Well, they were seats, but soft? Again, efforts are being made to improve the trains and it WILL happen. There are frequent food service trolleys offering much the same as you can get on the street anywhere in the country and at very reasonable prices. There are toilets, but be sure to get in early, they tend to deteriorate as the day goes on. An attendant comes through the carriage every hour or so and sweeps the floor, and your feet, if you aren't quick enough. Overall, for $20 each for a full day's journey through some spectacular rural and coastal scenery, we were well pleased with the Reunification Express experience. Our next leg will be on towards Hanoi stopping off at Ninh Binh. The first leg of this trip will be in a sleeping compartment as it is overnight.
This is our second visit to Hoi An, so we were ready for the aggressive taxi drivers at Danang. It can be a bit of a hassle getting from Danang to Hoi An. It is a 30km journey, so most people take the taxis whose drivers pounce on tourists as they leave the station or airport. We had considered the local bus, but after a long day on the train, we opted for the luxury of a taxi. After a quick negotiation with a young driver, we settled on 350000 dong and off we went. This guy tried every trick in the book. 'You stop Marble Mountain?'... 'no, we've already seen it'... 'You stop at beach?'.. 'No we've seen heaps of beaches.' To make matters worse, it became apparent that he had no idea where our hotel was. Sadly for him, we had more than a clue, we had our trusty tablet and its built-in GPS. All attempts on our part to direct him were spurned, which only steeled our resolve to stick to the agreed price, even though we noticed that he had set the meter running and it was approaching 450000 dong. After stopping for assistance from a fellow driver and then going by a VERY roundabout route (we could track our journey on the tablet) he eventually found the hotel's street, but not the hotel. We had to find that for ourselves. Suffice to say that no amount of pleading on his part altered the agreed price by 1 single dong - and the only tip was... not all Westerners are stupid!
A long day and a few hassles can only lead us to one place! A bar, or, in this case, a front row seat riverside in one of the converted 19th century houses that are now great 'perching places' to have a beer or two, a great meal and watch the world go by. Sadly, our first afternoon was to be the only time it didn't rain on us in Hoi An. It is the monsoon season after all, so today, down she came all day. Undaunted, we grabbed umbrellas provided by the hotel, purchased a plastic rain coat from a street hawker and did the sights.
Hoi An is a real time capsule. The old part of the city is much as it was during the 18th and 19th centuries when this was a major trading centre for Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese merchants. Add to that the French colonial influence and the result is truly unique. So far, the character of the city has been fairly well retained, but the pressure of development is already showing as large resort complexes spring up on the beach front to the south of the city.
Many buildings here are an interesting mix of Chinese, Japanese and European styles. Chinese row houses stand beside solid French colonial structures. Perhaps the most famous landmark is the Japanese bridge, which is probably one of the most oft photographed buildings in Vietnam. The most attractive about the old town of Hoi An, however, is that the streets are closed to traffic for most of the day, so it is possible to stroll the ancient streets free of the constant buzz and beep of motor bike traffic.
For those interested in technology, we are now preparing our blogs on an even more miniaturised scale than with our previous little Eee PC netbook. We now are the proud owners of a 7" Samsung Tab II and a tiny Microsoft bluetooth keyboard. Just fantastic! We even load it up with movies to watch on flights where there is no entertainment system, which now we are true budget travellers, seems to be almost all our flights.
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