Hong Kong to Hanoi

Three trains, two days and an introduction to China.

We left Hong Kong and caught the train to Guangzhou East, where we could, we had heard catch the train to Nan Ning, however this train now leaves from the main station in Guangzhou so finding methods of getting from one to another were slightly fraught as we had no Chinese, and no one had any English, the tube signs and directions made no sense whatsoever so we eventually had to get a cab, however even pointing on a map to the cab driver seemed to have no real effect but eventually he called his English speaking mate on his mobile and the problem was sorted.

The over night train to Nan Ning was in the Hard Sleeper, rather than the Soft Sleeper not that that makes any difference to the mattress  a Hard sleeper has 3 high bunks and no doors while the soft has doors, 2 high bunks and a dinner service! So arriving in Nan Ning at 9.00 am revitalised and refreshed we hit the town as our connection to Hanoi left at 5 in the evening. We know we were at somewhere where there were no tourists fairly easily ..... no one tried to sell us anything and everyone stared - if only we could have charged.

We booked a hotel room for a couple of hours... Liza said it was the first time she had done that (!?) for a shower and as a place for us to check in our bags while we provided entertainment for the locals, mind you the market was interesting and the groups of men playing dice on the riverside were the only people not to stare.

Got a soft sleeper to Hanoi and lucked out as we had the carriage to ourselves, although a stop of an hour for the Chinese border at 11.30 - everyone off and bags scanned etc followed by the same again at the Vietnamese border at about 1.30 did not make for a full nights sleep..... Something that you really really need when you then have to deal with the traffic chaos that is Hanoi.... A city of true glory, stupendous food, beer at 18p a pint (which now I come to think of it is cheaper than when I had my 1st bar job in 1978) where we met some really great people and of which  a fair bit more later.