“Take the train…” they said, “it’s the scenic route…” they said. When I imagined the “scenic route” from Danang to Hue, I was imagining beautiful cliffs and ocean views. Upon arriving in Hue, I can say my ride certainly was “scenic” but not in the way I expected.

The train ride from Danang to Hue is rumored to be a stunning route along the Central Coastline of Vietnam. Winding through lush rainforests and climbing mountains obscured by clouds while straddling cliffs that drop off into the surging ocean below. Sure, the bus would have been faster, but I wanted to soak in the scenery and be inspired.

My first clue that this train ride might not be what I expected was the lack of tourists. As I waited to board the train, I noticed that I was the only tourist around. Not only that, but I was being stared at from every corner of the room.

As I stepped on to the train and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized this wasn’t going to be quite the romantic ride I had envisioned. Hard wooden benches were crammed into the dark train car with luggage…and people packed into every possible open space.

Noting that there wasn’t so much as a square inch of unoccupied space in the overhead luggage compartment for my luggage, I awkwardly found a seat and piled my luggage on my lap hugging it close and tried to blend in. (lol, good one John).

For organizational purposes, I have broken the experience down into 7 Observations for your reading pleasure:

7 Observations Riding a local Train in Vietnam

1).  People Constantly Staring at you:

When you travel as a westerner in Asia, you need to get comfortable with the fast that people are going to stare at you. It’s just simply a fact of life when you’re here. In our western culture, people do not stare. We consider staring either rude or creepy. In fact, there’s such a stigma on staring that many people have lost the ability to simply make eye contact in social interactions.

Many places in Asia, staring is not only acceptable, but it seems to be a favorite pastime. I’m no slouch, I can handle a fair amount of staring no problem, but in this situation, I was crammed into a trian car for 3 hours with people that all seemed to know each other, and I was the only foreigner. The staring and whispering and giggling was constant. I tried to tell myself it was simply because I was so good looking—but let’s be real, who am I kidding.

One of the reasons everyone was staring and whispering was because I ended up in the wrong seat. Long-story short, there were people occupying my seat so I tried to find an empty seat. The first one I sat down in, an old woman started gesticulating and babbling in Vietnamese at me, so I took that to mean that she was saving that seat.

I found another seat in a row next to a young guy. I tried to pantomime asking if I could sit in the seat. He didn’t seem to understand. So I got out my translator on my phone and asked if I could sit or if someone was already sitting there. He still didn’t seem to understand but sort of nodded his head, so I just sat down.

Later people kept coming up to my seat and whispering and laughing at me with the other guys in my row. The best I could figure is that I was in one of their seats and they didn’t know how to tell me so they just let me be.

Also, if the staring wasn’t enough attention, I caught several people taking covert pictures of me with their smart phones. I have to admit, I did look a little funny squeezed between a bunch of locals with my luggage piled on my lap.

2). People throwing their trash out the window:

Vietnam has a trash problem. There, I said it. Don’t get me wrong, this is an absolutely wonderful country with breathtaking scenery and natural wonders, but, like many developing countries, they have a trash and pollution problem.

As I was riding in the train, I couldn’t count how many people I saw throw their trash out the train window. People would very matter-of-factly crumple up the plastic wrapping of their food, or some paper product and slide it through the 2-inch opening at the bottom of the train window where it fluttered to the ground to join the other refuse already accumulated there.

Sadly, this wasn’t all that surprising. Nearly every village I’ve passed through has had very serious trash problems.

This is not a judgement on the local people—they simply don’t have many options when it comes to their trash disposal. There isn’t much real regulation or public education about littering and pollution. I think this is already changing in Vietnam and with the rate this country is developing, I know this issue will be addressed soon.

3). Nobody Stays in their Seat:

It was basically one big game of musical chairs—without the music. No one seemed to stay in the same seat for too long. At some in distinguishable moment, they’d decide they’d been in that seat for long enough, and just wander off somewhere else and momentarily a fresh face would be taking their place in the seat they’d just vacated. I probably experienced 5 or 6 rotations on my bench alone. People came, sat down, talked for a while, then moved on and somebody else took their spot. It was like group speed dating.

This type of train ride is not advisable for people with separation anxiety—don’t get too attached to your seat mates, eventually they will all leave you….*sigh*

4). Sometimes people jump on the train:

We had been on the train for about an hour and had just passed through a small village. We were moving along at a decent pace when all of the sudden I heard a thump and suddenly I saw a shadowy figure outside the window in front of me.

Before I knew what was happening, the passengers next to the window had wrenched it open and were pulling a woman in through the window. Yep, that’s right. You heard me. Climbing in through the window.

The best part is, nobody seemed surprised. Judging by the attitudes of the other passengers this was a commonplace occurrence. The woman clambered to her feet and quickly found a seat dusting herself off while staring around her quickly to make sure none of the train attendants had seen her.

This lady climbed onto the moving train and was pulled through the window

Then she proceeded to march up and down the train hawking bags of dried squid. That’s right! She wasn’t even trying to get anywhere, just wanted to sell some dried squid.

5).  People sleeping everywhere:

This was one of the most remarkable things. People were sleeping everywhere. No this was not a sleeper train, they would just park themselves on the ground between the benches, under the benches, in the aisle, wherever they wanted. Many people would spread a mat on the floor, and take a snooze.

This guy brought his own camp chair and just passed out in the small corridor between train cars

Indeed, when I boarded the train and came to my seat, there were people sleeping soundly on the floor under my bench and in front of it. My choice was: wake them up and try to tell them this was my seat, or go find another seat. I opted for the latter.

The people sleeping in my assigned row

An old lady sleeping under the bench across from me.

6). The views are incredible, if only I could see them:

All of the awkwardness of the ride would have been worth it just to see the breathtaking views of the coastline, except for one problem. There was an opaque film covering all the windows. So you basically couldn’t see anything. Why they decided to block our views, I have no idea, but I was not happy about it.

This is what ALL the windows looked like

There is a pattern of little crosses in the opaque window that allows you to see little flashes of what’s outside. The few glimpses I managed to catch were really amazing, although I had plenty of things to watch INSIDE the train car.

7). Solidarity:

The last point is a positive one. Although I was a total stranger, and I looked awkward and probably accidentally stole someone’s seat. People were kind to me. When I sat down, some guy offered me some of the bread he was eating. Later as I was exiting the train, several people gave me understanding smiles and one guy helped me navigate the aisle with my bags. Even though I didn’t understand what anyone was saying and despite my initial discomfort, I felt like there was solidarity between us. We had made it through the train ride together. And although next time I may indeed opt for the bus it was an experience I’ll never forget.

To be honest, it’s stuff like this that makes me love Vietnam. You never know what’s to expect and it’s always an adventure.

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