{"id":868,"date":"2024-01-10T03:39:54","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T03:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/cr\/?p=868"},"modified":"2024-01-11T05:23:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T05:23:28","slug":"bonus-content-process-paradise-catching-the-reunification-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/?p=868","title":{"rendered":"Bonus Content: Process Paradise (Catching the Reunification Express)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The reunification express is the name for any train travelling from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Choo choo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of trains that do this and they all make a number of stops along the way. Odd number trains (SE1 and SE3) go South, while even number trains (SE2 and SE4) go North. We wanted to catch it the whole way in a few stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Order your tickets online. Baolou.com makes this pretty easy for Westerners. You can reserve a seat from several different options: hard seat, soft seat, hard bunk (6 to a room), soft bunk (4 to a room or 2 to a room, but the 2 rooms are fairly rare). Seats can apparently sell out (especially if you are looking for the cozier option). A soft bunk for a decent overnight trip in a room of 4 will set you back about a million dong (about 60 AUD) and doesn’t include any food. The premium 2 bunk room is about 1.5 million dong each and does include food. Definitely worth it for longer overnight trips greater than 12 hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Get to the station about 30 minutes early. There is nothing to do, but stand around confused wondering if you are in the right spot with the other tourists. There is a special VIP room at some stations, but it is unclear what counts as VIP. A majority of the overnight train is normally tourists. Locals do the cheaper (and less comfortable) “sleeper” buses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Boarding will open and you show your ticket to an attendant which gets a cursory glance. You then go and find your assigned seat or berth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. For overnight trains, there is a lot of bumping around, screeching and stopping\/starting. Despite this, sleep is pretty achievable. Everyone online said how freezing the A\/C was set at, but we found ourselves a bit overly warm. You get a very light quilt and pillow.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The dining carriage is not quite those of the classical great train journeys. Caitlin went and found it, but I never did. There is a hot water urn at one end of each carriage you can use to make noodles. The coffee is powdered and a disappointment compared to all the other coffee on the trip. No tea, but there is beer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Each carriage has a toilet or two and a small washbasin. These are either squat or western style. The toilets are generally fine as each carriage appears to have a dedicated attendant who sleeps in a small room at one end and I believe maintains them. The only trick with the toilets is that there is enough toilet paper for about 2 hours of its 30 hour journey and it is not refilled. Take your own. These are the only toilets in Vietnam where you can put toilet paper in the toilet! Very exciting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. At least every 30 minutes (except for late at night) the coffee Lady will wander the halls of the carriage yelling out “Ca Phe” and other phrases I do not know, to sell you snacks and drinks. Do not think a closed door is enough to isolate yourself, she will open the door and check if you heard her before closing it again. This can be confusing if you are drifting off to sleep.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. You can also order a proper meal on the train. This is rice with some chickens, eggs, nuts, etc. The trick here is you have about 5 mins from it being delivered to the next lady coming around for the plates. But the food is OK and a good serve.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Mostly just sit around, look out the window, read and listen to podcasts. It is pretty easy and there are power points in each room. In the 2 berth room, it’s very easy as you can keep to yourself and chat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. The bed is pretty good. I’m probably the limit size-wise. I am basically touching when laying down and stretched out, but it works fine. Just curl up a bit. You get your own light to read after your room decides to turn the big light off.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Before your stop, the attendant will open your door and let you know it’s coming up. You can easily hop off, make your way through the hordes of taxis vying for your business and you are in the middle of a new city, well rested and ready.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    The result of successfully following this guide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bonus Content (Vietnam)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bonus-content","category-holiday","category-summer-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1041,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868\/revisions\/1041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}