Chúc mừng năm mới
Yes indeed the day has finally arrived. Happy lunar new year. And what a wet start it was. Me and the two Aussies huddled under a bridge along with a few tens of locals to watch a firework display happening on the other bank, from around the Imperial City.
It was a good fifteen minutes long, but despite the stiff wind and rain, the smoke really obscured about two-thirds of the effects from our viewpoint. And then it was 00:15 and everyone went home.
SE1: Huế to Đà Nẵng
Up at some ungodly hour (09:00) to get breakfast and to the station to catch the 10:39 SE1 service. To my slight astonishment it arrived bang on time.
The journey to Đà Nẵng is mostly uneventful until the track navigates a pinch point where Huế province becomes Đã Nâng province. The track grips onto a mountainside to the west, falling away to the sea in the east. There are tight bends, some tunnels and quite amazing views as headlands come and go.
Sadly my seat was on the “wrong” side of the carriage so I had to take photos and videos through the half-open window in the vestibule. For sure, one unexpected lurch and that would be the end of my phone.
Built by the French Colonial Administration, it’s a remarkable piece of engineering. Usually only a handful of trains per day make the journey from Hà Nội to Ho Chi Minh City, but during Tết there’s something like eighty services per day.
Each one must lumber up one side and slide back down the other. The linkages between carriages squeak and groan, the wheels squeal on the rails as they are hauled slowly, painfully slowly to the apex before the relief of gravity takes over and the brakes take on the squeaking role.
As a minor train nerd, I loved it.
I’ll add some videos when I get a chance to upload them. Best turn the volume down before watching…
Hội An: it’s sunny
You’ll have spotted from the photos that the clouds dissipated on the journey. Here in Hội An, it’s pretty sunny. I’ll have to buy sun cream, which makes a nice change from, well, the entire journey up to now.
