Loosing Personal Spacings

I hadn't planned to write anything today, how eventful could a 11 hour train journey be back to to Hanoi?

Our journey started at 7:30am with a hours transfer back to Loa Cai station. Many people would fit into this mini bus, which would become the theme for the rest of the day. Those little tiny plastic seats become very useful for squeezing an extra 3/4 people in.

We had got our hotel to arrange our train travel back to Hanoi - we would be taking a soft seat back on this daytime journey, sounds like it would be more comfortable.

The first challenge when getting to Lao Cai station would be getting the tickets. We were given a voucher to exchange but the place didn't have our tickets waiting. With 50 minutes to the departure of the train we were told to take a seat. 20 minutes later the guy who said this got in his car and drove off (getting the tickets I thought). The trains do say to board 30 mins before leaving, hard to know if this is done just to make the train leave on time. By this point I start to get nervous about making the train. I ask another guy about the tickets. He sprints off across the car park close to the station, gets to the end of the car park turns around and starts to stroll back. Eventually I am told I will get my tickets from 'the man' in 5/10 minutes. 12 minutes go by - there are still no tickets. We debate walking away and just buying new tickets at the station. I didn't fancy waiting 9 hours for the next train. Just as we start thinking about making the move a man shows up on a motorbike and we grab the tickets and make our way to the station.

On the train, we ended up with two seats close to the stairs to the second deck. I had more than enough leg room to stretch out and I started to think the journey back would be fairly easy going. Note I forget to take a picture at this point - I wish I did! Second note, I'm not very good at taking pictures on trains.

We move off down the tracks. I still think there's a chance you could run if not cycle faster than these trains go. I sit back and start listening to some old dj mixes of mine, collecting thoughts and counting temples as we pass them. As we cross multiple level crossings I think to myself 'I wonder how many accidents they have at them compared to England?' We also seem to break very sharp and hard when coming to a stop at some local stations.

A few hours into the journey we comment on how much room we have and how comfortable we are. Then we stop at the next station as herds of people get on. I wonder where they might sit?

The answer of course being everywhere around me but oddly leaving plenty of space around by tash. I wonder if they know about her Mafia links? I am now lucky enough to be sharing my space with 4 extra people. Those little chairs come in handy one again, I do wonder if the luggage racks weren't full if they would be crammed in there too! As the ticket inspectors check the 'extras' tickets he points out where they should be, there is some shaking of their heads and he walks off.

I'm actually writing these notes as the journey goes on just to make sure I don't miss anything. I have just been covered in some clear liquid (hopefully water) from the outside of the train through the window. I've now shut said window. Another guy joins the stairs and uses his shoe as a makeshift stool. I then notice the boy infront of me is sat on a motorcycle helmet whilst resting his head on another as a pillow. Shoe seat man notices us and makes some thumbs up signs, followed by getting up out his seat and shaking ours hands. Trying to work out now if he is wasted or just really interested in us.

Turns out he was wasted. At one point he grabbed my hand again and didn't want to seem to let go. He continued to talk at my in Vietnamese. Eventually he would sit back down amongst repetitions of 'Vietnam', 'Ho Chi Minh', 'thank you, thank you' and 'cam on'. He was then offering us food and drink but I just wanted him to vanish rather quickly, whilst keep a eye on Tash to make sure she was ok. We had several more instances of him standing up and talking at us. Meanwhile I noticed some other people taking pictures of us on there phones. Getting out my book and reading didn't seem to distract shoe seat man. He decided to purch alongside me and start to read with me. I thought we may have got rid of him as he walked off but noticed his bag was still near by.

Needless to say he came back but once the train started moving he piped down. My fellow invaders of space left at the next stop. I was quickly reoccupied. Shoe sitting man then wished us goodbye 4 times over and waved as he left the train. Perhaps he was just interested after all, who knows!

You may wonder why there is such a increased temple count? As we passed rice paddies there were little cemetery's dotted around each with there own mini pagodas.

The last few hours of the journey was spent killing time deshelling sunflower seeds and eating them just like the local people. Darren this should be your next fad.

Temple count 40

Noodle count 9

Hours travelled 45