Don't catch Vietnamese trains

What more can be said. We learnt over the last few days that travelling on trains in Viet Nam is not for the faint hearted. To explain. I decided whilst Matthew was away that I was going to go somewhere with the children. Originally it was to be Bangkok, but I missed the cheap fares. So it was down to travelling in Viet Nam.
We have not yet been to Mui Ne, a coastal town 200km out of Ho Chi Minhm, which apparently has better beaches then Nha Trang, so I decided the ocean was calling. 200km I will remind you. Not really one for buses, especially after our epic Mekong Delta 8 hour journey, I decided on the train. It was just over 4 hours - perfect. I picked accommodation that looked not to fancy but enough for a short break, bought the train tickets and off we went.

The train was scheduled to depart at 6.50 am, so it was an early start for Khanh and us. We arrived at the Station, found our train then our carriage and sat in what looked like the best seats, the train was empty so we thought it was going to be a perfect 4 hours. All too soon the train filled and filled and filled. We had to find our numbered seats which unfortunately where those ones at the back of the carriage which don't recline. But that's OK it was only for just over 4 hours.

6 and a half hours later we arrived. Honestly the train could not have gone any slower, Josh looked out the window at one point and said people were walking faster. It was very squishy to say the least - mind you the poor girl who sat next to Zander I think she was worried, She did not remove her mouth mask except to eat, and she had all her luggage piled on her and between Zander - goodness only knows what she thought he would do.

About 4 and a half hours into the trip a food cart came around. That's good you might think! But oh no Vietnamese have these obsession with boiled eggs. The little cart had two huge buckets filled with them and that's all people bought. After 4 and half hours on a train, now we were smelling boiled eggs, I was about ready to lose the plot. That coupled with the smell of the toilet which was quite close to us, was pushing me to the brink of jumping off the damn train.

Finally we arrived with me saying I was not going home on that train!

We took a taxi to our hotel, of course that was half hour away, so I short break out of town was turning into a very long journey to a short break. Travelling internal of Vietnam, I didn't even think of taking our passports, forgetting of course that in this country you have to register with the police - so I spent a few hours trying to contact Matthew to get copies of our passports. It all ended well with copies

Thankfully the accommodation was simple but quite lovely. The afternoon was sunny and hot so we just lounged by the pool, had afternoon naps and studied - well kaela did.

We all decided on an Italian restaurant for dinner, which had rave reviews, and besides numerous blackouts including the generator blacking out as well - we had a great time eating and playing cards.

To describe Mui Ne, the closest similarity I can come up with is, Byron Bay about 20 years ago. There is one main road with tour buses, bikes and bicycles. If you walk down one side there is a pathway but the other side is just the side of the road. There are lots of resorts and also simple guest houses it's quite a contradiction. But time will change it I am sure.

The next day again was lovely so it was back to the pool and the beach. The beach was not great but I think as Australians we are quite critical of beaches. But it certainly was nice to get back into the ocean.

But typically of Viet Nam during the wet season the afternoon saw rain and rain and rain, but none of us minded at all, we read, we slept, and kaela continued to study.

Drinks at a resort right on the beach (next we are staying there), dinner at an Indian restaurant finished up the day.

Unfortunately the next day was not as nice weather wise but we still managed to swim and hangout. All too soon it was time to go, a mad dash to the train station only to find the train hadn't even boarded. It's amazing how Vietnamese we have become, we started at the end of a very long cue - but managed to board at the front.

Thankfully we had better seats this time so we settled down to another 4 and half hours train trip. 7 hours later we are sitting in a stopped train when an annoucement is made that the oncoming train had flooded - yes it was raining again and our train was just stopped indefinately. Eventually we got off the train, just got off, walked across the tracks down the road in the torrential rain and caught a taxi to the train station where Khanh was waiting for us.

We had left Mui Ne at 1pm and didn't arrive home till after 9 - in all reality we could have flown to Australia in that time.

I will never catch a Vietnamese train again. If there is no airport I am not going.
That is of course until the next time we want to go some where and rail or road is the cheapest option I will probably fall for it again.

But at this moment all I can say is Don't every catch a Vietnamese trains.