Tripping Out on Trains Part One Sai Gon to Da Nang
The train from Saigon Station to Hanoi left on time, and as I sat down on my narrow berth I began to observe the disadvantages to train travel alone:
You increase your chances of stranger danger. If you are with a companion the odds are you will have two, maybe three, sleeping partners, but take that down to only you and you can end up sleeping with four strangers.
I don't advocate sleeping with strangers on any occasion but on a Vietnam overnight train it is unavoidable. I would have thought that there was a certain etiquette required but it seems not.
The cabin I occupied contained Mr Six Cans of Heineken, Grandpa, Daughter and child. It would have been ok but for a combination of factors that singly may have been coped with but as a group created an intolerable situation that was only overcome through a lesson in true communism.
Mr Six Cans took the top bunk and shortly after departure fell into a beery coma from which he emitted foul odor and continual snoring. The fact he was directly above me had the effect of making me feel gassed, which had the air conditioning been working would have been less disturbing, but the air con was not functioning and as Grandpa, now down to his shorts, scratched away in his groin on the bench next to me and Daughter, keeping the light on to sms messages into the wee hours, seemed oblivious my discomfort increased. By two am I had sort of had it and was very tempted to dissolve into tears and feel the true weight of frustration at being alone, with no one to care how I felt, or what I was suffering.
This may well have been prompted by experiencing, this afternoon, just how lovely Geoff and Belinda are to one another during moments of stress and moments of delight.
I had to pull myself together and take care of myself, by myself, and tell myself it would be ok in the morning..but it wasn't ok at that moment, the cabin stank, I felt trapped between the bodies of sweating, snoring and farting men and that is no pleasant thing.
I packed my bags and dragged them into the corridor hoping some form of train monitor would relocate me, but no one came. I returned the bags and sat with the door open just hoping that either a guard or a fresh breeze would appear before long. Daughter also became hot, as did Grandfather who sat up and stopped scratching, and, at two am, we had a humorous and communal picnic together to the accompaniment of Mr Six Can's nocturnal noises. I made tea, they offered me bits of dried fish and we ate and drank together.
Then things began to happen, a guard of sorts drifted by and I stopped him and made him talk to Daughter who taught me the Vietnamese for "Too hot", the guard disappeared to return five minutes later with another man, then they both disappeared down the chilly corridor from where people emerged intermittently wrapped in blankets to use the bathroom. Oh why couldn't I be tucked away in one of their rooms?
Miraculously the air con kicked in around three and we were able to sleep. the chilled air dispersing the foul odors and the noise of the air con creating an undertone for the snoring which became a lullaby of sorts for the rest of the night.
In the morning, of course everything looked brighter, mornings always do. The sun was streaming through the window at six-thirty am and the train halted in Nga Trang for breakfast. I waved a small denomination note, valued around 50 cents from the open doorway too nervous to get off the train for fear of hawker swamping and got a fresh baguette in exchange. I made fresh Oolong tea in my newly purchased tea cup and strainer and sat back to welcome a new day. In my cabin we were comrades, we swopped more food and I had to acknowledge without the hardship of the night the joy of the morning would not appear so sweet, and knowing I am alighting in three and a half hours makes the residue odor, the morning coughing, the intrusive nature of passers by and the piss filled bathrooms all just fleeting moments in the richness of tripping out alone!
TRAIN TRAVEL ALONE HINTS
Traveling alone by train increases your chances for 'experiences' good or bad:
Bring a well scented scarf or fill your bag with paper perfume samplers from duty-free shops at the airport.
Do not pack food with fish in it.
Bring ear-plugs, a gas mask and an eye pillow.
Know how to pee standing up on tip toes, while maintaining balance by holding onto nothing at all.
Do not descend into self-pity no matter how bleak things may look, with luck the sun will be up in a maximum of nine hours.
You increase your chances of stranger danger. If you are with a companion the odds are you will have two, maybe three, sleeping partners, but take that down to only you and you can end up sleeping with four strangers.
I don't advocate sleeping with strangers on any occasion but on a Vietnam overnight train it is unavoidable. I would have thought that there was a certain etiquette required but it seems not.
The cabin I occupied contained Mr Six Cans of Heineken, Grandpa, Daughter and child. It would have been ok but for a combination of factors that singly may have been coped with but as a group created an intolerable situation that was only overcome through a lesson in true communism.
Mr Six Cans took the top bunk and shortly after departure fell into a beery coma from which he emitted foul odor and continual snoring. The fact he was directly above me had the effect of making me feel gassed, which had the air conditioning been working would have been less disturbing, but the air con was not functioning and as Grandpa, now down to his shorts, scratched away in his groin on the bench next to me and Daughter, keeping the light on to sms messages into the wee hours, seemed oblivious my discomfort increased. By two am I had sort of had it and was very tempted to dissolve into tears and feel the true weight of frustration at being alone, with no one to care how I felt, or what I was suffering.
This may well have been prompted by experiencing, this afternoon, just how lovely Geoff and Belinda are to one another during moments of stress and moments of delight.
I had to pull myself together and take care of myself, by myself, and tell myself it would be ok in the morning..but it wasn't ok at that moment, the cabin stank, I felt trapped between the bodies of sweating, snoring and farting men and that is no pleasant thing.
I packed my bags and dragged them into the corridor hoping some form of train monitor would relocate me, but no one came. I returned the bags and sat with the door open just hoping that either a guard or a fresh breeze would appear before long. Daughter also became hot, as did Grandfather who sat up and stopped scratching, and, at two am, we had a humorous and communal picnic together to the accompaniment of Mr Six Can's nocturnal noises. I made tea, they offered me bits of dried fish and we ate and drank together.
Then things began to happen, a guard of sorts drifted by and I stopped him and made him talk to Daughter who taught me the Vietnamese for "Too hot", the guard disappeared to return five minutes later with another man, then they both disappeared down the chilly corridor from where people emerged intermittently wrapped in blankets to use the bathroom. Oh why couldn't I be tucked away in one of their rooms?
Miraculously the air con kicked in around three and we were able to sleep. the chilled air dispersing the foul odors and the noise of the air con creating an undertone for the snoring which became a lullaby of sorts for the rest of the night.
In the morning, of course everything looked brighter, mornings always do. The sun was streaming through the window at six-thirty am and the train halted in Nga Trang for breakfast. I waved a small denomination note, valued around 50 cents from the open doorway too nervous to get off the train for fear of hawker swamping and got a fresh baguette in exchange. I made fresh Oolong tea in my newly purchased tea cup and strainer and sat back to welcome a new day. In my cabin we were comrades, we swopped more food and I had to acknowledge without the hardship of the night the joy of the morning would not appear so sweet, and knowing I am alighting in three and a half hours makes the residue odor, the morning coughing, the intrusive nature of passers by and the piss filled bathrooms all just fleeting moments in the richness of tripping out alone!
TRAIN TRAVEL ALONE HINTS
Traveling alone by train increases your chances for 'experiences' good or bad:
Bring a well scented scarf or fill your bag with paper perfume samplers from duty-free shops at the airport.
Do not pack food with fish in it.
Bring ear-plugs, a gas mask and an eye pillow.
Know how to pee standing up on tip toes, while maintaining balance by holding onto nothing at all.
Do not descend into self-pity no matter how bleak things may look, with luck the sun will be up in a maximum of nine hours.
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