BY ANY MEANS...of transport!!

We got to the train station to go to Nha Trang... when we organised the train booking we chose the train that left at 11pm and arrives around 6am in the morning (7 hour trip), we booked the soft sleeper cabin with a/c (2 bunk bed cabin)…sounds comfortable…right!! We booked the tickets 2 weeks ago and we were all looking forward to our train adventure. It was a long day leading up to catch the train, we’re just hanging around in the room, we get the taxi to go about 9:30pm, we arrive around 10pm. We walk in the station with an hour to spare we thought…we presented the tickets to the lady behind the counter and to our shock we had tickets for an earlier fare leaving 8pm that evening… we had missed our train!! Now we were stuck at the train station.

We almost went into panic mode, what to do? Thank God there was another train leaving at 11pm…(the train we thought we booked…wasn’t our mistake - too hard to explain) BUT no soft bed sleepers left and no refund on our tickets. The only places left were normal seats…we didn’t have an option and bought new tickets... not a new train…speeds of around 40-60kms hours on average. We were expecting it was going to be hard…although it could have been worse. Alex is a star he just made himself comfortable using a fold out food tray fitted to the seat in front for his legs and fell asleep. Ashah on the other hand stayed awake playing games until after 1am, then she falls asleep in my arms.

It’s dark out the window and with her on my lap, I stare into the blackness waiting hour after hour mesmerized by the clacking of the train on the tracks and the door of the carriage banging all night with no door closure. I was just looking out the window waiting for a glimpse of light to reveal the treasures that lie outside…we pass shanty towns, lit up farms on main highways.  Hours pass and the sun begins to rise and the sky lights up…unsettled sleep for us all although we arrived in Nha Trang. We caught up on sleep in our new hotel $20 a night with balcony overlooking the beach…not bad!! Matt hired a motorbike for us and organised one for my dad and mum. Matt took the kids and I on a three hour riding tour exploring Nha Trang…we all loved it!!