Thank god I've finally stopped. In the last 24 hours I've been on a boat, a bus, a train, a bus, a boat and a bus. In that order. Truly an epic journey and I just need a day or two to recover.
After I blogged yesterday there was the weirdest relay to allow everyone to "freshen up" using a couple of rooms before getting on the train. There was a list and we all had 15 mins each. I've noticed that this company is very organized. Too much really as we keep getting told where to eat and where to leave our bags. In fact our tour leader is very insistent that we leave our passports and bags behind on every excursion. As you can imagine this causes a lot of mumbling from the rest of us. The British tourist suffers significant separation anxiety if you take their passport away. It does seem odd that the Vietnamese think your personal effects are safer left in the hotel lobby or on a bus than they are on your back or in your pocket. I blame communism. I had also forgotten how much the British love a tan. Or sunburn more accurately. Of the 18 people sitting in the sun on a boat all day I only saw 4 of us put on sunscreen. So many rosey faces today.
So eventually we got on the train. This is when we discovered why we had a freshen up opportunity before we got on. It was basic to say the least. Think prisoner of war camp or gulag and you're getting there. I expected to be asked to join the escape committee. The toilet was a western type but unfortunately just dropped your little package straight onto the track. The squat lav at the other end was indescribable. We were told we wouldn't need a sleeping sheet as we were in the special carriages for tourists and well to do Vietnamese and would have a sheet pillow and blanket. Well so we did. I would imagine the provided linen had been there since the Tet Offensive. I don't think it was blood but I used my sleeping sheet anyway. And slept in my clothes. Mind you that was necessary because the aircon was on all night and it was freezing. I was on the top bunk, which took me straight back to caravan holidays as a kid, and I thought I slept quite well considering. It's quite soothing with the clackety-clack of the train sending you off to sleep. Not so soothing when the brakes are jammed on and you're almost thrown across the carriage every hour or so.
I went for a wander up the train and realized we really were in the fancy part of the train. We had 4 bunks per cabin. The cheap seats had 6. And the really cheap seats were just seats. Not the best for the 36 hour trip from Hanoi to Saigon.
Ours was just 12 hours to Hue and I've never been so glad to get somewhere. Unfortunately we couldn't rest as there was a trip to a monastery and a boat trip to do.
It surprises me how the Party here tolerates religious freedom. That must be pretty unique in a single party state. I will ask why at some point when I pluck up the courage, I feel strangely reticent to question the locals about the Party incase it puts them in a difficult position. It may be because the Buddhist monks here have a history of being quite vocal and beligerant in the defense of their religion. The monastery today, Thien Mu Pagoda, is where the first self immolating monk (Thich Quang Duc) was from. The Austin he made his final journey to Saigon in is still here.
Hue is so peaceful after Hanoi. Less traffic and a lot less tooting of horns. However the hawkers trying to sell you crap do seem to be getting more persistent as we go further south.
I also had my fist real Apocolypse Now moment on the Perfume River today. We were speeding along in our boat and went past a couple of old American patrol boats still there on the river.
It was almost enough to give you flashbacks.
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