Thursday, November 25, 2010

We survived the 13.5 hour overnight train trip from Hue to Hanoi, just. We had filthy sheets, an axe murderer guard, a drink lady from hell and a squat toilet that emptied over the train tracks……

  

I would love to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the train but I wasn’t. Unfortunately it was exactly what I had pictured. We played cards, ate dinner, talked, then wondered what the hell we would do for the next 12 hours. The drink lady didn’t like us cause we didn’t want to pay foreigner prices for the beer, then she really didn’t like us when a couple of the boys jumped off the train at one of the stops and bought a heap. She refused to serve us after that! Then there was the guard that kept yelling in Vietnamese and running up and down the carriage swinging a hammer. We decided to close the door at this stage. I finally got some sleep once I pretended that I wasn’t laying on someone else’s sheets. We caught the train all the way through to Hanoi where we grabbed some breakfast then hoped on the bus to Chc Phuong National Park.

We saw loads of monkeys and turtles (in a wildlife rescue centre) then went on a walk that was approximately a zillion kms long. Every time I would see a hint of daylight through the very thick forest I would think that we had come to the end, but NO it went on and on and higher and higher. I was truly lucky to survive.

I accidentally started cleaning my teeth with water out of the tap this morning. After my panic attack was over I just stood and waited, nothing happened though and currently I still appear to be in good health.

Very early start tomorrow as we drive to Halong Bay. I’m too tired to even care about the mould on my pillowcase or the pipe under the sink that’s not connected to anything…….