We take a taxi in the rain to Phan Thiet railway station, 30 kilometres away. Jörg has bought his ticket separately and we have different compartments. The journey takes us through endless rice fields. Last night was short, we were well rested. I fall asleep quickly. But not for long.
There are a whopping 9 people in my six-person compartment. One is a baby in a swing in the centre. It cries almost the whole night. That’s not so great, but what’s really cool is the young, overburdened mother. She keeps nagging the baby loudly. The apathetic young dad plays the Vietnamese hit parade up and down on his Sony mobile phone in the corner. I can’t get no sleep.
In the morning I’m still looking out of the window into the rain. Rice fields, bomb craters, rice fields. There is no sign at any railway station. Nobody speaks English – except the conductor: three words. I ask every half hour: “Hue?”. At nine o’clock they tell me to get off. Then they tell me to get on again. Next stop. Out of here? No, but I’m transferred to another carriage.
The same game a few more times: Out? Yes! Then again: No. Then finally at eleven o’clock: out here. Jörg doesn’t get out. Not good. Nobody speaks English, really nobody at all, not a word. They show me where I am with their fingers and a map: 150 kilometres too far north, a small town called Dong Hoi.
I’ve only eaten biscuits for almost 24 hours. I’m wet, hungry, tired and really pissed off for the first time. The conductor was definitely taking the piss. After an hour, a train leaves for Hue. It only takes six hours to cover the 150 kilometres.
I arrive in the dark. Moto-taxi through Hue. I check my email in the first bar. Jörg hasn’t got mine yet, nor have I got his. But I’m in the Google Top10 for “web designer”. It pays off in a different way today. Jörg has found me and emailed me. It’s just round the corner. To the hotel, shower, back to the really cool DMZ bar. Eat, work, off to bed. 28 hours on the road and I feel like I’ve got a wheel off. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.