Aiming for Hanoi

An early departure from Lao Cai station to Hanoi tought me a few rules for overnight train travel in Vietnam:

1. Once conqueroring the tricky business of acquirung a ticket, check to make sure it is valid for return travel. I thought I was safe after booking a package tour to Sapa through an agent, but no it turns out I don't have a return ticket. Bummer. Is it because I can't speak Vietnamese? I tried, I really did; expanded my voculabulary by more than double during my stay. 'Chao' means 'hello'. Gotta love the hotel receptionist; she got it all sorted for me in time.

A three hour delayed train departure does not equivillently reflect at on the ETA. Because this is Vietnam.

2. Don't put any fancy expectations on the train sticking to the timetable. Having arrived at the Lao Cai railway station an hour before the scheduled departure, I discovered that, after two hours siting in a hot, crowded room, the train is now departing three hours late. I thought I'd learned rule number two the hardway.

3. Always, always bring emergency snack food along. I can't stress how important that one is.

4. Never assume that the three hour delayed train departure will equally reflect at the other end of the journey. Because this is Vietnam. There are outside opposing forces. I was feeling very opposed when I awoke at around six o'clock in the morning and to learn my overnight train's latest ETA in Hanoi was three o'clock in the afternoon. Three times during the night I woke to the man below my bunker snoring and at all times, the train was not moving.

No longer did I have a day to further explore Hanoi. I spent most of the day curled up in a ball giving my iPod special attention while the train crept slowly but surely toward Hanoi.

Floods and landslides can be very inconvenient. The train was even rolling through the flood waters. People were walking in it and cars were stuck in it.

A taxi collected me from the station but making an innocent mistake of exiting the train station on the wrong side meant the fare to my hotel was a great deal bigger. Too big infact. This guy's meter was creaping towards AU$20... it's only supposed to be about $5. It just seemed to be one of those days.