LC1 Day Train Hanoi to Lao Cai Vietnam – Images by Jamie McDonald

It seemed pretty sensible at the time – book an A/C Soft Seat on the day-train to the mountains. We’ll get to see the scenery, and be in comfort at the same time. Nothing is so simple. We were asked by the hotel and the cabbie why we would go on the day train and we explained the above.

5.20am and we’re faced with the prospect of sitting on a wooden bench with no A/C for 9 hours to Lao Cai, or we could pony up a $60 bribe which would ensure our comfort would be increased dramatically as we’d be in the soft sleeper. Done. Erm, no, not quite, the sleeper isn’t soft. In fact, it has absolutely no cushioning at all, so it was a wooden plank to Lao Cai. The train departed and we weren’t sure how well it would go, but a few hours sleep and it appeared that the 9 hours would rapidly countdown and we’d be in the mountains.

The scenery was amazing, and we to this time cannot understand why not a single other western tourist wasn’t on the train. We got to chat to locals the whole way, we crawled over sacks of rice and motos through the freight cart to get to the restaurant. We ate bowls of pho on the train, then jumped off at a stop and ran back up to our cart as it began moving again. The 9 hours quickly became 12 hours, and still I don’t think we complained.

Simple message to anyone heading up to Sapa – give up your creature comforts for 1 day and see Vietnam in its majestic glory. Our only regret of the day was getting involved with the rabble that is the mini-bus crowd from Lao Cai to Sapa. It’s a total con, but after 12 hours on the train 100,00 dong doesn’t seem like much to travel 38km in a van. After half an hour of waiting we got piled into another van, and we counted 21 people in a van with 9 seats, further, it should have cost no more than 25,000 dong. A great day though, and we weren’t going to let a few greedy rip-off merchants cheat us out of remembering how fantastic the experience was.

*I don’t actually guarantee no regrets, but I will probably label you with a tag you won’t like if you complain!