UMTravels

Our return to Saigon day was a mellow one. Sean and Michael went to the beach (China Beach) and I slept in. Not that I didn’t go to the beach, just that I took four pictures and left:

Then I set off to find a convenience store to stock up for the train trip…

We all met back at the hotel to check out and head to the train station – one that looks more like a train station than the one in Saigon:

Complete with old steam engine!

But we still needed lunch, which we found across the street from the station – Choi’s Kitchen:

Taste was good but with the bones, I think they just took a cleaver to the poor bird. Of course, our original choice wasn’t available. But the Peach Tea was great.

After lunch, we were back to the station…

Noticed several “private” rail cars on the Hanoi Da Nang train. Nicer cabins, better bathrooms, double the money:

Sadly, we were back in the EXACT same compartment that we arrived on. Michael’s USB port and my coat hook still came off in my hand.

This trip I decided to walk the length of the train…all the way back to the “café” car:

Then to the soft seats (I didn’t see a hard seat car):

Then to the 6-person sleeper – where I found a party. They offered me a beer and we toasted!

Look at the cooler full of Heineken – and the box of empties!

Dinner on the way back south was a little different than the way north – they took orders (and our money) and showed up an hour later with a most interesting tray:

Just like our ride north, we had a fourth person in our compartment – this one didn’t speak English or Vietnamese. Too bad none of us knew Chinese.

Train was schedule to arrive in Saigon at 5:45 – hopefully enough time for Sean to get to school at seven. We were running a little late when we stopped at a station Sean recognized as 10 minutes from his house (rather than 30 minutes to the main train station). We had the conductor hold it for us as we rushed off….

Basically, in the middle of nowhere – with surprised locals pointing us the way to the main street.

We all went back to Sean’s, with Sean quickly changing and heading to school, Michael and I chilling it was time to head into the city.

But more on that in the next post.

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