The ringing phone shocked us into consciousness at 7:30 AM. We seldom have a phone in our room, we have no one to call, and hadn't realized that we had one here. Phyl grabbed it and confirmed that we still wanted the train tickets. After a few minutes of grumbling, we fell back asleep. Five minutes later, the phone rang again. After a brief conversation with the desk clerk, Phyl threw on clothes and went downstairs. Upon her return...............
G- What the hell? Didn't we give them all of the information last night?
P- She had to go over everything again and she wanted money.
G- Why didn't they ask for the money last night?
P- I don't know. Maddie was down there too. I guess they also called and woke her up. She didn't look any happier than I did.
G- Yeah! It's the first damn day the construction work is not going on, it's quiet, we have no reason to get up early, and they're ringing our damn phones at 7:30 AM!!
P- All of Asia is up since 6:00 AM, so it does not occur to them that we might be sleeping in.
G- Ugh! Did you tell her we don't want to ride backwards.
P- I told her and that presented another problem because they have no common sense. I told her that we'd like to be facing the same way the train is moving. She got a horrified look on her face and told me she has no control over that. I told her to ask the ticket clerk to give us seats that face forward and she told me that she was not going to get the tickets. So then I had to explain to her that she could simply ask the person buying the tickets to request forward facing seats. Then the light bulb went off over her head, but don't hold your breath.
G- The lack of common sense, an inability to think outside the box, never ceases to amaze me. Any slight variation or personal request is scary. Let's try to go back to sleep.
Fortunately, after a while, we were able to go back to sleep. One really great thing about Asia is that noon is the standard check out time. This enabled us to leisurely pack and bring our backpacks downstairs to the holding pen just in time for lunch. We were frustrated that it was a wasted day, but we had no options when the train only runs at one time per day. After lunch we returned to the hotel lobby to get on line and found Maddie & Vera doing the same. We talked more with them and learned that they are 19 years old, from Oslo, Norway.
At 4:00 pm we went to a nearby restaurant and purchased food to eat for dinner on the train. The hotel van took us to the bus station at 4:30 pm. We boarded the train just before 5:00 pm and helped each other hoist our packs onto the shelves above our seats.
G- I really like the efficiency of the Vietnamese train stations.
P- It is a great idea to have everyone stand in sections according to which train car they'll board.
Maddie – It's very efficient in Oslo, and cleaner too.
P- I'm sure it's cleaner in Oslo.
G- The Vietnamese aren't the Swiss, but their system is good.
Vera – This is our first over night train ride. We prefer to ride during the day.
G- Us too. We like to see the countryside.
Of course we were the center of attention when we first got on the train. Maddie & Vera are young and cute and we're stared at for the first couple of hours, but eventually the men turned their attention to other things.
Vera- What is that noise?
G- In addition to the blaring TV, I think they also have the radio on.
Maddie – Why is everything always so loud in Asia?
P- I'm glad to hear you say that. I was thinking I complained about it because I'm older.
Vera- No, it's horrible! I don't understand why everything must be so loud. I'll ask the train man to turn it off.
P- Good luck with that!
G- I wonder if Asians have hearing problems. Maybe it's a cycle.....the older people are half deaf, so everything is loud. This makes the children half deaf from an early age, so they have to have everything loud as they get older. Then because they need everything loud, their kids become deaf, and on and on the cycle goes.
Maddie – Ha! It might be something like that.
When the train man came through the car, Vera did get him to turn off the radio, but that only lasted for 10 minutes and it was back on again. The next time he came through the compartment we asked again and it was turned down to a level that, while still annoying, was tolerable. The evening passed quickly as we talk about our lives in America & Norway and our travels. These kids were very mature for only 19 years old and we took to them immediately.
At 10:00 pm the lights were dimmed and thankfully, the TV and radio were turned off. While sleeping in a train seat is certainly less comfortable than a bed, they're much better than airplane seats, reclining at 3 times as far as the plane and with more leg room. The night was uneventful and the train reached Hanoi at 5:30 AM. We could only imagine the beautiful scenery we had missed as we sped across Vietnam for 11.5 hours on that train.
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| Maddie & Vera |
P- She had to go over everything again and she wanted money.
G- Why didn't they ask for the money last night?
P- I don't know. Maddie was down there too. I guess they also called and woke her up. She didn't look any happier than I did.
G- Yeah! It's the first damn day the construction work is not going on, it's quiet, we have no reason to get up early, and they're ringing our damn phones at 7:30 AM!!
P- All of Asia is up since 6:00 AM, so it does not occur to them that we might be sleeping in.
G- Ugh! Did you tell her we don't want to ride backwards.
P- I told her and that presented another problem because they have no common sense. I told her that we'd like to be facing the same way the train is moving. She got a horrified look on her face and told me she has no control over that. I told her to ask the ticket clerk to give us seats that face forward and she told me that she was not going to get the tickets. So then I had to explain to her that she could simply ask the person buying the tickets to request forward facing seats. Then the light bulb went off over her head, but don't hold your breath.
G- The lack of common sense, an inability to think outside the box, never ceases to amaze me. Any slight variation or personal request is scary. Let's try to go back to sleep.
At 4:00 pm we went to a nearby restaurant and purchased food to eat for dinner on the train. The hotel van took us to the bus station at 4:30 pm. We boarded the train just before 5:00 pm and helped each other hoist our packs onto the shelves above our seats.
G- I really like the efficiency of the Vietnamese train stations.
P- It is a great idea to have everyone stand in sections according to which train car they'll board.
Maddie – It's very efficient in Oslo, and cleaner too.
P- I'm sure it's cleaner in Oslo.
G- The Vietnamese aren't the Swiss, but their system is good.
Vera – This is our first over night train ride. We prefer to ride during the day.
G- Us too. We like to see the countryside.
Of course we were the center of attention when we first got on the train. Maddie & Vera are young and cute and we're stared at for the first couple of hours, but eventually the men turned their attention to other things.
Vera- What is that noise?
G- In addition to the blaring TV, I think they also have the radio on.
Maddie – Why is everything always so loud in Asia?
Vera- No, it's horrible! I don't understand why everything must be so loud. I'll ask the train man to turn it off.
P- Good luck with that!
G- I wonder if Asians have hearing problems. Maybe it's a cycle.....the older people are half deaf, so everything is loud. This makes the children half deaf from an early age, so they have to have everything loud as they get older. Then because they need everything loud, their kids become deaf, and on and on the cycle goes.
Maddie – Ha! It might be something like that.
When the train man came through the car, Vera did get him to turn off the radio, but that only lasted for 10 minutes and it was back on again. The next time he came through the compartment we asked again and it was turned down to a level that, while still annoying, was tolerable. The evening passed quickly as we talk about our lives in America & Norway and our travels. These kids were very mature for only 19 years old and we took to them immediately.
At 10:00 pm the lights were dimmed and thankfully, the TV and radio were turned off. While sleeping in a train seat is certainly less comfortable than a bed, they're much better than airplane seats, reclining at 3 times as far as the plane and with more leg room. The night was uneventful and the train reached Hanoi at 5:30 AM. We could only imagine the beautiful scenery we had missed as we sped across Vietnam for 11.5 hours on that train.
