Rolling Back to Hanoi

Lao Cai - Hanoi, May 14-15th 2010

Again I got a seat that faced backwards. But I was happy enough with my seat because it was very unlike the seat on my way to Lao Cai. This seat was by the window and I didn't have to face other passengers' face siting on my opposite. I can have my privacy here.

Much more to my relief was that there weren't people making scary noises like the gamblers on my way to Lao Cai.

The train on my way to Lao Cai had a very cold air conditioning. I had to crawl up in my seat and wrap myself with the scarf I bought in Dalat which was thin but supprisingly warm. Therefore, this time I prepared myself by wearing on a semi-sweater with longsleeves and high collar up to my neck. Nevertheless, this time the aircon wasn't working!

But after experiencing the nightmare on the way Lao Cai with those gamblers, I didn't mind at all about the aircon. I just rolled my sleeves up and put myself to sleep. However, I woked up and saw a young man walking through the aisle with his chest naked. And then another bare-chest-man came along. What now? I asked myself. Are they going to fight?

The first young man came back and sat back on his seat next to a woman who seemed to be his wife. The woman was rather plump and pretty. She looked rather irritated and fanned herself gracefully with a compact disc (CD). After about half an hour, her seemed-to-be husband stood up and walked through the aisle heading to my direction.

Suddenly as if a soft voice spoke in my heart, "Don't worry. He is not going to make a fight. He is just terribly hot. Just like you, sometimes."

After a few minutes this young man showed up from the backside of my coach. Together with him was a man in blue uniform. They had a conversation and the chest naked young man seemed to be rather satisfied. He went back next to his wife.

Indeed, after a few minutes, I could feel the aircon. Not as chilly as the train on my way to Lao Cai, but just perfect to make my seat cozy and put me back to sleep until the next morning -- in Hanoi.

I was awakened by music choir from the loudspeaker. I don't understand Vietnamese. But judging from the music, it must be kind of a patriotic song. I guess it was a song to extoll Uncle Ho. I might have been correct for Ho Chi Minh's birthday is May 19.