So today was day one of our long two day journey to Saigon. Da Nang to Nha Trang Where I am now. Tomorrow onto Saigon itself.
I thought today I just put up a few pictures to give you a rough idea of what life is like on our Vietnam train. The train is quite noisy by European standards. In Vietnam the rails still go clickety-clack unlike the seamless rails in Europe. There are also TVs attached to the ceiling that play Vietnamese soap opera, an eclectic mix of western movies (today we had a Roman epic) And occasionally songs from the Vietnamese version of Frank Sinatra. when the train stops at the station (usually with squealing breaks and a lurch) Vietnamese women jump on board and start selling food to the passengers. There seems to be nearly as many staff on the train as there are passengers. Each carriage has two attendants and then there are various guards, conductors and dining car staff. There is one man whose job it is to note down in a logbook at intervals the speed of the train and the arrival time at each station.
TimOnTheTrain 