We have all morning before we need to be at the train station. We have a plan to visit the Cham museum. Cham is one of the fifty four ethnicities that make up the people in Vietnam.
We got a surprisingly good breakfast at the hotel, but did one major mistake – we did not specify HOT coffee. That makes the morning coffee experience less than satisfying. Ice coffee is not real coffee in my book.
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- The girls at brealfast
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- Decent breakfast
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- Note the ice coffee – mostly untouched
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- Checking out
We checked out and left the bags at the hotel and took a taxi to the museum. The museum had audio guides for rent and that made the visit so much more enjoyable. Punching in a number for the specific object and getting the story of it. It’s quite amazing some of the stone work the Vietnamese did back in the days. Da Nang really isn’t a city to visit compared to other cities in the country, but this museum was really worth the detour.
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- Getting tickets
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- Stone work. Note the European seated Buddha
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- Ganesha
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- Elephant. A bum like a modern day diva
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- Whup whup – let’s get this party started!
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- Listening to the audio commentary
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- Linga and Juni
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- Roof top view
We got a good lunch and a great cup of coffee at a place called Bread of life. Another project run by people with hearing impairment. We communicated with the waiters by sign, lip reading and written notes. Good food, great coffee and a mean cinnamon roll.
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- Finally some decent coffee
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- mmmmm, coffee
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- sign in our hotel floor
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- Off we go
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- Our hotel. Hoa it’s in your honor
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- Old train outside the train station
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- Train station Groufie
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- Waiting for departure
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- Close up selfie
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- Long arm selfie
Taxi to the hotel, pick up baggage and then to the railway station. We stay waiting a bit on the station and then board the train. We had gotten tickets for the best “seats” the ‘soft sleeper’ beds on the night train (despite they said it was sold out). Define soft please…
We found our coach and the cabin with the bunk beds. An elderly Vietnamese lady with no English language was already there. The beds were hard as anything I have slept on this far. We stowed away the luggage and mostly stood out in the passageway to look at the view. The train moves back over the pass we drove over to get here. It’s not running equally high in the mountainside, but the view is great.
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- Getting on board
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- Waiting for the view to appear
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- A bit foggy, but beautiful
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- The seaside
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- All is good, no problem
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- High quality, right?
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- Hanging in the hallway looking at the scenery
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- Not so big, the trains in Vietnam
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- Scenery
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- Taping up and fixing a fire extinguisher
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- Sleeping an afternoon nap
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- Train
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- The bunks
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- Just sitting here and waiting
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- Humongen in the doorway
When the best part of the tour is done it’s only 13 hours left to Hanoi. We did a little power nap and went to get something to eat. It was a good restaurant coach, but it was also the designated smoking coach. Who thought that was a good idea?
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- Walking through the cheapest seats to get to the restaurant coach
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- Num num num
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- Simple but good food
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- Beer? NO!!!! OK, water then
Back in the cabin it wasn’t really that much to do but lay in bed and get entertained by the iPad. After enough episodes of a tv show it was nighty night. The train will be in Hanoi at 05:30 so we’ll not sleep in tomorrow.
Penny: Sheldon, that pocket watch is ridiculous.
Sheldon Cooper: Nonsense. I look like a train conductor.The Big Bang Theory
kogatravel 