26.02 Day 42 Nha Trang & Train
Monday 26th February - Nha Trang + overnight train to Hoi An (Day 42)
A quiet day today as we start the next leg of our journey north. Check out is not till midday so that allows plenty of time for me to get breakfast - finding a bakery with flaky croissants and soft pain-au-chocolates, supplemented with Egg Banh Mi and a 1kg mango. My coffee lady makes the squeal-esque noise as yesterday when I present her with the 2 plastic cup holdalls - getting used three times must be unheard of in this disposable economy.
There is time for a decent stint of schoolwork, skype call to my parents on holiday in Antigua, a final swim in the rooftop pool and still have time to pack and check out. Leaving all our bags behind reception we wander to the bakery that was the source of this morning’s breakfast and find upstairs a small oasis above the busy crossroads, constantly humming with motorbikes. Up here we enjoy 3 Banh Mi’s as well as a pizza for Sienna.
Banh Mi’s seem to be the cheapest way to eat, so far half the price of popular pho which I thought would be more ubiquitous. A margherita pizza would cost more than four Banh Mi’s. Where we’re used in Sydney to being able to find most cuisines at any price point, here it seems local is cheap, but anything outside of that, no matter how ‘simple’ it seems to us, just multiplies the cost.
Back at the hotel we while away the afternoon by the pool, complete with our smoothie from the fruit seller next door, who after just a few days, are used to seeing our faces. This is the difference between our 4 night stays and a more traditional rushed 1 night. 1 day to make mistakes, 1 day to settle in and the day 3 & 4 to enjoy the routine and establish some fleeting relationships with cafes or drink sellers or hotel receptionists.
After multiple hands of Phase 10, we strap the rucksacks to the roller bags and traipse back to almost the train station, stopping just short at what transpires to be a ghost of a shopping mall with one supermarket, one cinema and one fried chicken joint. It meets our needs though and we make use of two of the three offerings before crossing the road to Nha Trang train station, arriving 45 minutes before our scheduled departure at 19:15.
Just before our train is another making the same journey but headed south from where we came. Ours arrives and departs on time - for this overnight leg we’ve booked a 4 berth compartment, each of these carriages being 7 compartments and their own carriage attendant.
There are no seats as such, just the lower bunk to sit on, but thankfully Kate and I can both sit upright. That wouldn’t be the case in the six berth compartments which offer a slightly cheaper fare, dropping again for the soft seats and further again for the wooden benches. It’s more private than the Bangkok to Chiang Mai train, but certainly not as new. No one comes to make my bed for me either… but it’ll transport us for almost 11 hours, trundling North up the east coast of Vietnam.