Because of the price being so cheap and the fact that we wanted to expand our adventures everywhere possible, we decided to take the night train from HCMC/Saigon to Da Nang for our next stop. Scott booked us in a “soft sleeper” which was basically a tiny room with two bunk style beds. The toilets were at either end of the train car (one end being a western toilet and one end was an eastern toilet).
We didn’t board with really high expectations, and even ate dinner beforehand, as well as loaded up on snacks. We got on the train at 7:30pm with a scheduled arrival into Da Nang around noon the next day.
While the train got us to where we were going, I won’t be doing another night train in Vietnam. Within about 30 minutes, Keali was basically on my lap freaked out about all the roaches. The spiders and mosquitoes didn’t bother us so much, and even living in Houston where roaches are ubiquitous, we were all pretty icked out on the train. Keali finally fell asleep which was when I really could watch the roach autobahn next to her sleeping head.
Fortunately, Scott and I thought ahead and had a couple of bottles of wine to fill the time. We both caught a few hours of restless sleep. Caden slept almost the entire night away.
To be fair, the views of the Vietnamese countryside were amazing on the morning ride once the sun came out. But considering how cheap it is to fly, I don’t see us taking another Vietnamese night train. We’ll try that adventure again in Thailand where I hear the trains are a bit nicer.
