Hue – crazy train ride and first rainy day

14 hours soft seat over night train to Hue – not a good idea. I wanted to go to Hue on the same day we came back from the Halong Bay cruise. Two hours before the train left I went to the train station to buy a ticket. It seemed very organized (at first) as people drew a number and waited their turn. So did I but between the number shown on screen and mine on paper were 150 people – no way I could still catch the train if I waited that long. Of course I learnt how to queue in front of the ticket counter already back in Russia, I didn’t bother about my number and just squeezed up next to the customer beeing served. Soft seat it was. In my train carriage I was the only foreigner. In front and behind me families with their kids and babies, which is always a huge attraction here in Asia. They love the toddlers, everyone gets to hold and cuddle them. It got dark outside and the lights were turned off. People tried to sleep, some on the floor, underneath the seats, some in one seat with two babies in their arms. Even for the Vietnamese the seats are too small and seemingly uncomfortable. Most people got off the train around two in the morning. After that I had almost the entire carriage to myself and finaly found some sleep.

Hue you might wonder what there is to write about; not an awful lot to be honest. It is a nice semi-quiet town with a river separating it into two. On one side is the backpacker street and on the other the citadel. I rented a bicycle to see the citadel and drove around the city. In the afternoon I got caught in the rain and had to stop for a few hours.

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One art gallery sign had the flag of Geneva on it so I was curious to find out why. I talked to the Vietnamese owner in the evening and it turned out that he has been in Switzerland about 45 years ago. He stayed in Geneva for eight years as he had polio and Terre des Hommes helped him. Was interesting talking to him.

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One comment on “Hue – crazy train ride and first rainy day
  1. Pat says:

    How to queue in Vietnam? pushing through people to get served!