My morning coffee on the train. I swear the coffee cups are getting smaller. This was prepared with a dash of sweetened condensed milk, some coffee syrup, and then a dash of hot water. Tasted like heaven after sleeping on the train. Mark and I paid the extra $3 US for a “soft sleeper”, which means you get a mattress and a pillow instead of a hard bench, and I am glad we did. It was hardly luxury, but we did sleep. We were met at the train station and taken to our hotel, which we have no idea about, other than it was recommended by the guys at the Sunny in Hanoi.
Yesterday we had a quick breakfast at the hotel on Cat Ba, then on to the boat for the trip back to the dock at Ha Long Bay. Then into a bus for the long journey back to Hanoi. Two stops, one at a workshop for handicapped children, where I bought a cotton headscarf (the first cotton I have seen so far), and then lunch at a restaurant that seems to be owned by the tour company.
We were dropped at the Sunny (where the wireless internet had inexplicably stopped working), booked the hotel for Hue, checked our email, and stowed our bags. We went to the night markets for dinner, and boldly went to try our Vietnamese language skills again. I had been feeling pretty dismal about it, crushed by my inability to master the tonal language thing. But I tried again, AND I WAS UNDERSTOOD! the lady seemed really happy that we were vegetarian, and told all of the other patrons in the stall. We were asked if we liked chilli, but that was the last decision we were allowed for ourselves – they took care of everything. THey gave us a burner with a big pot of soupy stuff in it (we think it was actually vegetable stock, it certainly wasn’t fish, chicken or beef), and then they added veggies and noodles and tofu, and served it up to us. It was delicious, and we were both left feeling very glad to have found a good dinner, but also to have been understood finally.
Back to the hotel to catch a cab to the train station, and then off to Hue at 11pm. The train cost us $35 each, and saved us a night in a hotel. If you’re thinking of taking the train, ask for lower berths, that would have been a lot more comfortable than being up top – especially with my whole body still aching from hiking the day before.
Disco Knitter 