Lao Cai, Train Station - Nancy here.
Hi everyone we are back in e-mail land again!
It is almost 7pm and we are waiting for the 9pm train. We decided to upgrade this time and go for the overnight "soft sleeper" bunks! They are 4 bunks to a room and hopefully the door closes! On the way up from Hanoi we didn't book in time and had to sit in the "soft seats" overnight. The seats were padded but soft they were not!
We were next to a rousing all night card game that filled the aisle and also had the last seats in the car which meant we were conveniently close to the favourite smoking area!
We did find an empty bunk in a room of 6 snoring men so Brian took that option, Nina and I shared and Maeve took the 2 seats. Needless to say Nina and I got an enormous amount of quiet restful sleep!!!!!!
We took an mini-taxi (2 hours switchbacks) to a small town called Bac Ha. It was great, hardly any tourists! The next day was an enormous market where many of the Hill Tribe minority people came to buy and sell. Some of the things for sale included water buffaloes, pigs, dogs, horses, chickens, ducks and song birds.
I"m going to post some photos now and will fill you in again tommorrow. We are hoping to get dry clothes in Hanoi! It has done nothing but rain and mist for ages now and everything we own is damp!!
Happy Birthday Uncle Bill!!!!!!!!
Hi All,
ReplyDeleteNancy, that is not you doing some stitching in the street is it?! The look of concentration is familiar.
I hope the 'soft seats' are close to what one would imagine. There is nothing like the adventure of a train ride!
All is well here - no snow though, so things look drab. Some colourful waterbuffalos would brighten up the streets.
Happy shopping in Hanoi.
xo Aunt Johann xo xo
ps Maeve, I think your wee friend Ninh is one year old.