Vietnam part 2- the long, skinny part. By Paul

Vietnam was great. Our time there was far too short as I think we are finding with most countries. I think this trip is more of a 'sampler', giving us a taste of each country. I know there are certainly things I would still like to see or spend more time doing there. We were actually quite sad to be leaving the south and Saigon. As we were waiting in a park to go to the train station we met a couple of very friendly students. After about 45 minutes we were sad to have to cut the visit short. I think that may sum up Vietnam for me.

We decided to get off the train at Quy Nonh (approximately 1/3 of the distance between Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Hanoi)and spend a couple of days there to get a bit of a taste of that part of Vietnam, spend one last day on the beach and then head north. We picked Quy Nonh because it wasn't supposed to be very touristy and this proved true. We took an overnight soft sleeper and we actually had the 4 berth cabin to ourselves. It was pretty luxurious. Tamara and I had both spent a night in a top berth in Thailand (where there aren't cabins, they don't turn the lights off, the curtains don't block the light or give privacy but do block the fan and people are coming and going all night) so Darcy said this was his turn. Both Tamara and I decided that it didn't count as a 'top berth' night as it was arguably better than the bottom and he made us cater to him all night. Oh well.

Quy Nonh was beautiful and we found that the Vietnamese there really, really like their coffee- about 4 or 5 coffee spots for every place serving food and they are very active in the evenings. There were probably 5 or 6 road-football games going on along the beach road after supper in the blowing sand. Much like road hockey except most guys are in barefeet, they only sometimes stop for motorbikes and there was blowing sand instead of snow.

We had some tasty seafood and then decided to go for some ice cream at a shop Tamara had read about and was eager to try. As we walked in we thought that the local tom cats had been peeing in the corner but we sat and ordered anyways. There were some pretty interesting choices. Darcy got "European deep-fried" ice cream. Tamara and I both ended up looking at the 'special Durrian ice cream' so Tamara decided to get the "Funnyman sundae" (seriously)instead. Well, once I got my ice cream I realized the smell was not due to Tom cats but due to this lovely desert. I also started to remember stories from my brother Dave saying some hotels forbid Durrian in them, but smoking and pets are okay. The first bite with the fruit on it tasted much like it smelt. After that it got better although Darcy claims a little bit of it ended up in his bowl spoiling half his 'lovely dish'. I think it's pretty normal to have a desire to brush your teeth three times after eating ice cream, right?

Our second day we decided to go and spend some time on the beach and in the South China Sea at the leperosy hospital. The hospital has a beautiful beach and grounds. It is a very nice hospital and the family come and live with patients there and the residents that can work both outside the compound and in it and support themselves. We had the whole beach to ourselves, hammocks in the palm trees, warm water and fun waves. It was a great day to relax and read and play frisbee in the water. They make very unique little boats out of bamboo there that are perfectly round and bob in the water. (I'll try to include a picture next time. We also found that as we went north these boats gradually turned into boats with a bow and stern). As we were playing frisbee a fisherman was rowing/paddling his little round boat past in the surf and asked us to throw it to him. He retrieved it with his boat, threw it back (upside down- I'm sure he'd never played with one before) and then kept going on his way. Such a little thing. I bet he has no idea how much that made our day!

We continued on to Hanoi but we were unable to get a 'soft sleeper' and so ended up with 'hard sleeper berths' and were game to try it. It was a fun experience and often comical. We joined the train in progress at just before 5am and in this class there are 6 berths in a cabin. "Hard" means hard- they were shelves with literally a sheet for padding. The three ladies in the cabin reshuffled out of our berths and we got to sleep. The ladies were up about an hour later having a good visit. The 'coffee lady' came around then and sold Tamara and I coffee before I could figure out what time it was and then she grabbed Darcy's bare toe sticking out (a brave lady, too, I might add) and asked him once he was awake(?) "Ka- fee? You want ka-fee?" We became quite fond of her over the next 29 hours. We were able to spend much of the day in the soft seats car playing crib, reading, swapping mangoes, cookies and candies with an older couple next to us and watching the scenery, of course. The train goes next to some stunning coastline and through the Demilitarized zone. Over the course of the trip, our roommates changed a couple of times, each time being middle aged vietnamese ladies with a very ready sense of humor and understanding(even if not literal) for these foreigners. Despite the hard sleeper being shelves that were just about long enough we all found that we slept surprising well and got to Hanoi thinking we were ready for it. Well.....