I got downstairs around 7:30am and my uncle was waiting for me to go get some breakfast. We rode on his moped to get breakfast. I had some noodle with shrimp and beef...yum! After breakfast we cruised around the city some more. He took me to my old school and then along the beach. It's a lot nicer to see the city via a moped than in a cab.
We got back to my place around 9:30am and I went over to Huy's place to hang out. I was able to get some free wifi so I FaceTime the fam. We chatted for a few mins and then went back to my place to freshen up before i came over here to my uncle's place for lunch.
Side note- the weather here is a little wacky, one min it's sunny and down pour the next.
Anyway, just heard that my dad, uncle and I will be heading North to Da Nang and maybe Hue for two or three days, I'm excited! We will be leaving tonight around 9pm by train. The rain ride will take about 10 hrs...hmm, not looking forward to that. At least it's at night so it wont be too bad because we will be there in the morning. Im hoping that the weather will be nice.
It's 12:30pm and we just finished lunch. I'm stuffed and ready for a nap. What a life...eat, sleep, and play :).
It's 3:30pm and I had decided not to nap today. I just finished watching a movie and now over at Huy's place eating a snack called banh nam (see pix). It's pretty nice, didn't want to eat too much because dinner is coming soon :). Oh I also had a banana with tapioca dessert (see pix)...yum! I need to stop eating! :)
Side note- I just posted two 360 pictures on fb. One is Tuy Hoa's beach and the other one is Tuy Hoa's main market. It's a pretty cool app!
It's 7pm and we just finished dinner. Two more hours then we will be heading to the train station. My aunt is telling us horror stories about purse snatching and pick pockets, great! I'll try to blend in by speaking more Vietnamese...second thought maybe not :). I'm sitting here and watching some tv and in my peripheral I saw my dad and uncle getting ready. Mind you, we are two hours away from leaving the house to go to the train station and they both layered themselves with two jackets. I was like "we still have 2 hrs! Are you two hot?". They are cracking me up ( see pix). It's 8:40pm and we just got to the train station. From the look of it, I think the train we are taking is the equivalent to the Acela train in Nova ( I hope).
O M G!!! What I feared had came to fruition, the train from hell ( little exaggeration :)). The train that my cousins, Huy and Hieu, told me not to take and I'm on it! I guess that's what happened when you try to be spontaneous. We decided to go to Da Nang on a whim. Anyway as the train sounds it siren as it coming in the station, I looked out and there it was...long, green, yellow piece of turd! My heart began to beat faster for every step I took toward the train. To let you know, i've never been on this train. I only heard stories from my cousins who had taken it when they came over here. So my expectation is low, I mean looow. Anyway, I was like can this be the train nah it can't be. No escaping from it, this turd is real and I can smelled the sweat, oil and god know what other stanches as I entered the train. As we made our way to our seats, people were literary laying all over. Some people were spreading out from one seat to the one on the other side of the aisle and others were in the fetal position on the benches. We found our seat and we noticed there was a guy laying on the floor sleeping. A voice came from the next row over "Just take any empty seats." I guess assigned seating is just a formality. So we found two empty benches and we took that. I looked at the bench and it was wood. 10 hrs seating on this...wtf! If you guys could of just see my face at this point. I don't think words can described how I felt. I sat down and looked on the floor there was a wet spot which was covered by newspaper. I dont ever want to know or think of the possibility....ewww! The little tray that is between our benches near the window has whole bunch of stains. I looked down the row and I saw this girl putting newspaper on the floor and then laid down and went to sleep...gross! As I'm typing this blog, I smelled cigaret burning. I looked up and I saw a no smoking sign so i moved closer to aisle and saw a guy smoking...really (smh)? On top of that, there was a baby crying. I mean might as well, right? Also, there was a draft came from the window. I tried to close it but couldn't because it's broken! Oh speaking of windows, there are metal screen outside of the glass window. I felt like we are chicken being transport to get slaughter.
It's 11pm, I don't know if can sleep on this train. Thank goodness I brought my noise cancellation headphone because it is loud. It could be louder than the train that David, Seef and I took from NYC to Dc.
I just went to the bathroom (see pic), #1 of course. Let just say you better stretch out your hamstring and thigh muscle before you do a #2.
It's 11:40pm and the train had stopped. We had been on this train for 2 hrs. I guess to pick up more passengers. There are shops along the track at this stop. People have 15 mins to get fresh air and get some food if they want to...pho to go anyone? :). I wonder if they do have it.
It's funny how my uncle can just start a conversation with a stranger. I have seen him doing that on occasion and he's doing that right now. I have know idea what they are talking about because I have my headphone on but seem like the have known each others for years. I guess he has this non precious look that invite people to him.
It's 3:20 AM and I guess I'm up from my power nap. I think from 11:40pm until now, I might slept maybe 40 minutes. It is should uncomfortable even though I have a whole bench to myself. This arse of mine has been spoiled with nice and soft cushion chairs. I don't know how many positions I tried to sleep in and I might stay at that position for 10-15 mins.
it's 5:30am and I was able to laid down and stretch my legs because the person on the other side of the aisle left. I think I slept for an hour which is pretty good. I think we are about an hour away from Da Nang.
There's a mother and a little boy both sleeping on the bench. The boy on occasion put his arm around his mom neck to hug her and sometime put his hand on her face, I guess just to make sure she is still there...cute! That's remind me of my little man
E :(. It's 5:55am and I see daylight.
We got to the station around 7am and took a taxi to our hotel.
I'm going to take a good nap :).
To be continue...
Ps:
-check out this one taxi dash (pix),
-imagine you just bought a Viera plasma and you wanted it deliver see pix. (haha)
-inside the train pix
-my "you gotta be kidding me face" pix
Oh common, Hoang, the train doesn't look that bad! Spoiled American kid! :))))
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