A good night’s sleep: learning how to get decent kip on a train…

For three nights in Vietnam, we’ve taken the sleeper train as a cheap easy and quick way of travelling that keeps our days free for sightseeing. We got lucky on the first and last train – clean, decent sleeper compartments with, most importantly, a western clean toilet! Each compartment contains two bunk beds and a little table with more than enough room to store the ever expanding backpackers.

The first train had a ‘restaurant’ carriage which the whole group decided to check out. After walking through cheaper and cheaper classes we realised just how lucky we were with our compartments and, again, most importantly, the toilet facilities. Carriage after carriage, people lay sprawled over seats and just when I was about to think the restaurant was a vicious train rumour, we spotted flashing disco type lights through a far off door. It was a different world to the rest of the quiet train: noisy, packed, smoky and drunken. Westerns made up the majority of the raucous crowd sat in booths with the occasional amused local wedge in between. The train guards, turned bar men, watched on and joined in eager to pump up the volume of various pop songs, this being their entertainment for the night. I think our group were all in a little shock of the surreal situation. Apparently after we left some folk decided it was time to dance on the tables…We didn’t find another ‘restaurant’ on any other train so it was a missed photo opportunity.

Sleeping on the trains is an art. I had a form of train jet-lag after the first train, not being able to sleep through the rackety tracks or the expressive braking which made me think they drive trains much like they drive on the roads. By the third train, the ear plugs were in, a glass of wine was downed and I had become used to the motion, my deep sleep only woken by the ‘wake up!’ wailing ballad through the loud speakers. I love watching the scenery pass by in the mornings: people starting their days, stirring metal pots of broth, praying at their miniature home temples, carrying various goods in the Vietnamese baskets. Then there’s the landscape; from the urban dwellings to dark green cone like hills and rice paddies fields with lazing water buffalos.

The less said about the second train, the better. When a small cockroach scuttled down the compartment wall, I decided against using any of the given linen and avoided using the toilet as much as possible.