Tues 2nd Jan – Hanoi -> Phong Nha
The overnight train was okay, a little better than expected. The lights turned off, which was a luxury the Thailand overnight trains no longer boast (after what our Thai tour guide ominously referred to as ‘an incident’). The train rocks a lot when going fast, and when stopping at stations comes to a stop with a jolt, so naturally it’s not the most restful sleep around. Also Declan doesn’t quite fit in the bunk. But I think he is mostly relieved to lie down, after a long day feeling sick in Hanoi. We read for half an hour and then go to ‘sleep’ around 10pm. I personally sleep for about 70% of the night, which I consider to be a solid outcome. Declan, while reluctant to ascribe a quantative score to his sleep, says he slept probably 70% too.
Our stop at Dong Hoi is timetabled to come at 7.53am. We’ve set an alarm at 7am to make sure we don’t miss it, but I’m awake earlier and the breakfast cart lady opens our cabin door anyway to scream out the breakfast options. She’s woken up my three bunk mates, and all to no avail as everyone is too confused and sleepy to consider buying a hot bun. A few minutes before the stop a train conductor comes to make sure we’re ready too – a service that would be much appreciated if your stop was at 3am…
The farmstay Declan booked is about an hour from the train station, and we’ve paid for a shuttle transfer from the station. This is good preplanning by Declan, especially given he is looking worse for wear. Inevitably, he is sicker than yesterday. When we get into our room, he does a second COVID test and it’s positive. Strangely, his mood brightens, and I think this is because the positive test gives him an excuse to rest. He has a big sleep until after lunch and then we read books in the outside common area and go for a tiny walk around the paddies. We have an early dinner of, confusingly, Shepherd’s Pie (the owner of the farm stay is an Australian who married a Vietnamese). Then an early nighttime for sick Dec.
Blog posts with no comments make me feel sad. A bit like an abandoned puppy that nobody wants to look after.
I must admit my first thought about the train is that it looked modern and clean which upon reflection made me feel that was an entitled first world comment .
With my height and width I would never be able to sleep in those beds.
Did the French couple know that Declan had Covid and where did they place their huge packs when they went to bed. There seems to be no spare space in the cabin.
How did you sleep if anyone snored or needed to get up to go to the bathroom.
Hope you are taking good care of Declan in his time of need.
Woof. Thank you for showing affection to this lonely pup.
The train was modern and clean! It was very spacious seating too. A lot of the travellers we’ve met (admittedly a few years younger than us) are using buses instead of the train because the bus is a lot cheaper (seems to be at least half the price). Not only are the buses way more unsafe, the sleeper bus also sounds atrocious. There’s always horn beeps and the bus swerves to avoid other traffic. We heard a nightmare story of one couple on the night bus where they had double booked the bus and the two of them had the share a seat…
You absolutely would not fit on the bunks. Declan didn’t really fit as it was.
We did not tell the French couple Declan had COVID. Not the most ethical decision but at the same time not sure what telling them would have done. And we couldn’t have waited two weeks until Declan wasn’t infectious…
Bags went under our lower bunks. But the big packs didn’t fit under so they just stayed on the floor.
When people make noise you just wake up. I had earplugs and an eye mask which I think makes a huge difference.
I made sure Declan had lots of heal time and gave a lot of headrubs.