This morning Martha and I continued discussion regarding our transportation by rail in Vietnam. When leaving HCMC and heading north to Hanoi our main mode of transportation will be rail. Although we had looked at it briefly, we hadn't arranged our train tickets yet because we didn't want to deal with it until closer to the time of departure.
The north/south rails system hosts the "Reunification Express Train" (RET). The RET departure and arrival timetables are like, ummm, reading a foreign language even though they are available in English. This process made us consider options like; sleeper rooms vs seating, air conditioning vs none, soft seat vs hard, hard sleeper births vs soft and then matching all of those factors to our itinerary. Going through all of that is not an intuitive process.
The time tables for this train are sort of weird. You can book extremely early trains (03:00 hours) or overnight trains arriving extremely early in the morning. The entire reason for us using the train as opposed to bus or plane is so that we can enjoy viewing the countryside and to have the ability to meet and interact with the people.
Da Nang was a short stopover in our original itinerary to provide a leisurely day on the beach and some time to explore the city. Looking at the RET schedule it became obvious that we would have only a few hours to spend in Da Nang if we were to make our scheduled stop in Hue...where we had a tour scheduled. So, reluctantly, we decided to forego Da Nang. Instead, we are spending a little more time at the beach in Nha Trang and then taking the overnight train from Nha Trang to Hue, giving us a few extra hours to explore Hue prior to our tour day.
The research on rail travel is now complete so another step in the process is behind us. We intend to book our train tickets online around September 1st. Onward.
Comments are encouraged.
The north/south rails system hosts the "Reunification Express Train" (RET). The RET departure and arrival timetables are like, ummm, reading a foreign language even though they are available in English. This process made us consider options like; sleeper rooms vs seating, air conditioning vs none, soft seat vs hard, hard sleeper births vs soft and then matching all of those factors to our itinerary. Going through all of that is not an intuitive process.
The time tables for this train are sort of weird. You can book extremely early trains (03:00 hours) or overnight trains arriving extremely early in the morning. The entire reason for us using the train as opposed to bus or plane is so that we can enjoy viewing the countryside and to have the ability to meet and interact with the people.
Da Nang was a short stopover in our original itinerary to provide a leisurely day on the beach and some time to explore the city. Looking at the RET schedule it became obvious that we would have only a few hours to spend in Da Nang if we were to make our scheduled stop in Hue...where we had a tour scheduled. So, reluctantly, we decided to forego Da Nang. Instead, we are spending a little more time at the beach in Nha Trang and then taking the overnight train from Nha Trang to Hue, giving us a few extra hours to explore Hue prior to our tour day.
The research on rail travel is now complete so another step in the process is behind us. We intend to book our train tickets online around September 1st. Onward.
Comments are encouraged.
