Vietnam Travel Diary #08: Train journey from Nha Trang to Da Nang

Note: I’m really sorry for the recent travel blog hiatus. I recently finished my final term of university whilst working at a new job. Let’s just say things got REAL. Anyway, more on that another time. Back to the blog!

We woke up early in Nha Trang and got ready to say goodbye to Mai’s wonderful apartment.

It was hard to leave because it was genuinely such a cosy, sweet apartment and Nha Trang had been wonderful so far. One of the draw backs of booking everything in advance is that if you really love one particular city it’s hard to re-arrange everything around the option to stay for longer. Still, I much prefer the feeling of knowing where I’m going and what’s coming next, and we were really excited to head to Da Nang and savour all it had to offer!

We got to the railway station and walked over the tracks to get to our train. We got a bit worried when our train (the NH1) started moving, but it was just linking up carridges. We nearly jumped on (stunt man style) I think we were both pretty tired and our brains weren’t working properly yet.

For this journey we hadn’t booked either of the sleeper options, so we spent the next 12 hours in a chair going backwards (soft seat option). It really wasn’t that bad, but if you’re thinking of doing this journey, and you can afford to pay for a soft sleeper option, then I would suggest you go for it if you want that extra bit of comfort. If I was doing it again I probably would go for the soft sleeper, just for the extra leg room/somewhere to lie down etc…

Despite the initial worry that it would be uncomfortable, I had a 2 hour doze and enjoyed watching the the world racing by when I woke up. I LOVE train journeys, there’s just something about being in transit and watching the landscape go by that makes me feel really content.

We had bought snacks for the journey so we nibbled on our Ritz crackers and Oreos and watched The Grand Budapest Hotel – great film. 

The bathroom, similar to the train from Ho Chi Minh, was what you’d expect. I would suggest that you bring your own toilet roll and wear shoes if you’re heading too the loo. Our train had been sprayed with water at some point during the journey and the window had been open – so the bathroom was a bit soggy!

Whilst on our journey we also got some personalised entertainment in the form of a train attendant singing along with what sounded like a karaoke track on his phone. He was living his best life. About 5 hours in we realised that the occasional percussive noises from the train chugging along fit really well to ‘the lion sleeps tonight’. I found it pretty amusing (it was a 12 HOUR journey after all, we needed all the entertainment we could get!)

When we got closer to Da Nang and the light outside began to fade I realised I had been bitten by something. We had forgotten to put our sun cream and insect repellant on because we were inside and it was air conditioned – itchyness ensued.

When we got to the station we headed into a taxi and then onward to our hotel. As we were riding to the hotel we saw people on motorbikes holding Vietnamese flags and honking. Our driver told us “Vietnam 3, Korea, 1 – football”. It was really fun to see a breif glimpse of these celebrations in Da Nang.

Once we were settled at our hotel we headed back out and went to look for somewhere to eat. Everything was closing, so we ended up heading back to the hotel and devouring the minibar for dinner! Each hotel we’d stayed in so far had a selection of drinks and snacks availiable in their mini bar (some also had ramen noodles too). The prices of the snacks were okay and it was handy after a long trip. We often came in after a long journey or a hot day out exploring in the sun and took the cold drinks from the mini fridge. The hotel staff would then simply add this to the total charge at the end of the trip. Easy, cheap and hassle free. I love a good minibar!

We watched die hard and I fell asleep – the beds at this hotel were SO comfortable! I woke up at the climax of the film when ‘ode to joy’ was playing (if you know you know) and realised I’d napped through pretty much the whole film. It’s weird how sitting on a train for 12 hours can make you so tired!

We had booked tickets to Ba Na Hills the next day, so we headed to sleep, dreaming of our next adventure.

To read my previous travel blog click here!

Vietnam Travel Diary #05: Our Experience On The Sleeper Train!

Welcome to my fifth Vietnam Travel Diary! This is all about the sleeper from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang. In this post I’ll share the logistics of the journey, along with a few of my tips that I used to make it as smooth as possible!

My partner and I booked the SNT2 from Saigon Railway Station to Nha Trang. This actually has the longest duration at around 9 hours in total and it got us into Nha Trang at about 6am. There are other trains with shorter estimate times e.g. the SE2 which has a duration of around 8 hours. However trains in Vietnam don’t always run exactly to time and there can be delays, so we didn’t particularly mind about the differences in duration. We chose the SNT2 train because we didn’t want to be waiting around in HCMC too late, and luckily our amazing Air BnB host let us into our accommodation super early! (More on that in the next post!) 

How to book

We booked in advance online using baolau.com, so that we could easily plan an itinerary around the train times. This also meant we were able to know exactly when to travel to Saigon Railway station, and we didn’t have to go there earlier in the week to collect or buy tickets. It’s about a 30 minute walk or a 10 minute taxi ride from District 1 to the station so we decided it would be ideal to only go there once and be able to take a taxi and not carry our full luggage around late at night.

Cost

When researching the cost of travel, the general consensus was that buying tickets in person is generally cheaper. However, due to my tendency to worry and my keenness to plan well, we decided to pay the extra and book them online as E-tickets. It meant that we knew roughly when we would be leaving HCMC and when we would get to Nha Trang. It cost us 557,000vnd each for a bed in a soft berth cabin. That’s around £18.50 or $24.00. Considering the price of a sleeper train journey in the UK, that’s an absolute bargain! We decided to go with the soft berth because the prices for the hard berth weren’t much cheaper, and having 4 beds instead of 6 makes all the difference.

The Station

We arrived at Saigon Railway Station in the evening, ready to get the overnight train. Getting the tickets was fairly easy. After not being able to work the E-ticket machines we asked the lady at the kiosk and she told us that our printed tickets would work as they were.

Food, Drink & Toiletries

In the station there were several convenience stores selling food, toiletries and souvenirs. There was also a fast food type restaurant called Lotteria which is where we had dinner. I would recommend that you eat something before setting off. I know that some of the long haul trains provide food, but I have no idea if the sleeper does and the concierge at our hotel was adamant that we should eat before getting on the train. We also bought one of the large free bottles of water from our hotel with us, but the train actually supplied their own little bottles of water in each cabin.

We also bought toilet paper, which turned out to be absolutely essential! I would suggest definitely bringing some along, because the toilet paper in the train toilets runs out very quickly. Also, because the train is very jerky, sometimes the toilet lid isn’t shut and water gets EVERYWHERE. I would advise that you bring:

• Toilet paper
• Hand sanitiser
• A pair of slip on shoes (for walking to and from the loo)

The Cabin

Each bed is numbered, so you know whether you’re on the top or the bottom bunk. We booked bottom bunks and there was plenty of space under there to store our bags, shoes and water. On the top bunks there were also little shelves to store these things.

Though it is rare and may be more common in the soft and hard seat areas, theft does occur on these trains occasionally. Due to this I bought a very cheap steel looped cable ( you can find it here) and used a padlock to secure it under the bed for added security. It just gives a little extra peace of mind. Of course it’s very unlikely that anyone would come into a cabin and look through your bags, but there’s no harm in staying vigilant.

The beds were surprisingly comfy and cosy. You are provided a sheet, a pillow with a case on it, and a blanket. We brought pillow cases with us from home as this was a tip that we saw several times on a few blogs. I’m glad we did because they added an extra aspect of homeliness and made it easier to settle down when it was time to sleep. I personally find it very hard to sleep away from home, so I also brought some sleepy cream from LUSH with me, which you can find here. It is an incredible product and really helps when you find yourself tossing and turning at night.

The cabin doors close easily and allow privacy. We shared our cabin with a Vietnamese couple who were very friendly. When the train sets off the lights in the cabin turn off, which happened whilst I was writing in my travel diary (the Vietnamese man in our cabin found this very funny!). However there are little individual reading lights for each bunk so that when the lights are turned off you can still read/write. The air con was good and I didn’t feel too hot or cold. It was really cosy!

The items that were essential for me:

• Steel looped Cable
• Padlocks
• A pillow case from home
• Sleepy cream (LUSH)

The Journey

I won’t lie to you… it was rocky! My boyfriend described it as “like being rocked to sleep with the subtlety of a jack-hammer”. Despite this, we got some sleep. I never thought I’d be able to drift off but I did, even if it was only for an hour or so. In the morning the train gives a ‘wake up call’ which is some calming music.

We woke up with about an hour left of the journey, and we just watched the sun rising over the fields. It was such a wonderful experience to watch the landscape passing by. We saw farmers working in the fields, cattle grazing, rolling hills and tall mountains. It was so different to the urban bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.

The corridors of the train are pretty narrow so we were very glad that we only had rucksacks to carry through. To get to the station we walked over the tracks.

We then headed towards the front entrance to get a taxi to take us towards our Air BnB. By this time is was around 6:30am so we were in good time for our 7am check in. The journey was an awesome experience. It was comfortable, fun, and it got us to Nha Trang for a relatively cheap price. Flying is often quicker, but as someone who hates flying this was an interesting and convenient alternative! I would definitely recommend the soft berth on the sleeper train from HCMC. It’s not luxury travel, but it’s an experience in itself, and I’m so glad we did it!