We took the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue. It was a fun and interesting trip.

We sat in the warm waiting room of the station for our train to arrive and met a small group of French college aged travelers doing a long camping and hiking trip.

We visited with them as travelers do and traded stories of our respective travels in broken English. I do speak passable Spanish, but luckily it seems that most everyone around the world speaks a little English.

Interestingly, there were many tourists from Latin America traveling in these three countries. I don’t know why it surprised me, but it did. I spoke with many of them to keep my Spanish in good working order.

We traveled with another couple from our group in a very small room of the train. The wives got a nice chance to hear a strange man snore through the night for a change. How nice for them.

We purchased silk sleeping bags for next to nothing to sleep in. They came in tiny bags that seemed too small to hold anything useful. However the sleeping bags inside of them were perfect. Large enough to crawl into and thin enough so we wouldn’t be too hot during the night.

The lower bench seats had fold down cots up above them on both walls where two more people could sleep. My wife slept above me.

My little friend here, was staying next door and found me a bit different and interesting to look at. Notice that I am a little hairy. I think that was the part of me that intrigued him so much. The people in this part of the world are lacking the luxurious coat that I happen to have, sadly for them.

He came to visit us many times during the day and his mother was on him a bit to leave us alone, but he couldn’t help himself. I finally had to close the door to keep him out of our room as we retired for the evening.

He pounded on the door for some time hoping that I might open the door again. He kept at it until something more interesting finally caught his attention. I think he saw a bug on the window. That shows how interesting I am.

The trip was pleasant enough with small towns and wide open fields passing rapidly by us for several hours before sunset. It gave us a chance to get to know our fellow travelers a little.

This trip was interesting in the fact that the members of the group changed quit often.

We bought the trip consisting of the three countries of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia all together as one trip while the others bought separate parts of the same trip. A small part of our group would leave after a few days of traveling, only to be replaced by a few more new folks as the vacation proceeded. I think that’s why they left, but my wife has other ideas as to the reasons.

We started as a group of four in Laos. The country was wonderful and not as developed as Vietnam and Cambodia. The food and hotels were, more than adequate. We traveled with a young woman by herself and a spry older lady from Hong Kong. They shared a common interest in beer and food of all sorts.

We had a close call in Laos on the muddy pass going over the mountains. But this is what travel is all about, isn’t it?Coming upon unexpected adventures and strange people along the way to make your day more interesting and memorable, only to see them disappear off into the sunset.

Come to the section of my blog about these countries for more stories from this part of the world.