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Tagged With "Hoi An"

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Re: The Worst Train in the World

FlashFlyer ·
What an amazing trip! A real reminder of when few traveled and it was not a packaged experience. I wish I had the guts to do a trip like this. Thank you for sharing it! Do you think with Burma more open these days things will change much, or will people like me show up in the cities and still not go where you went?
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

DrFumblefinger ·
A fascinating journey and, I think, very well suited to the younger crowd. Thanks for sharing this story with us. I felt like I was on that ride with you!
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
Thanks FlashFlyer. The thing about adventures like this is you have no idea what an adventure it'll be until it happens and you can't get out of it even if you want to. So, no guts required. Yes, Burma will certainly change, has already. Currently not enough infrastructure for those wanting to visit but if you've traveled in Asia you know the entrepreneurial spirit is alive & well and it won't be long, I suspect, before it will come to resemble other parts of the region. So, good news as...
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

GarryRF ·
I hope that wasn't your last venture into third world high speed travel. Reminds me of Austria on the Zillertal Bahn Valley Railway. The Train went so slow that passengers would lean out and pick wild flowers from the trackside. Each carriage had warning notices - in English - not to do this. But ....
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
If I live it won't be my last. Just prior to that one, same trip, I'd gone from Guilin to Nanning, then after lunch got on another, overnight to Hanoi. Later overnight again, Hanoi to Hoi An. Now that I think about it I realize they got progressively worse as I went along, culminating in The Worst. I hadn't thought about it until just this minute, hindsight is a wonderful thing that way. A great disappointment to me several years ago was the apparently permanent cancellation of the Hanoi to...
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

Theodore Behr ·
That's a real cool story, PortMoresby! I like my wheels to rubber, not steel, but what a great trip!
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

John Howard ·
My brother says that he would love to travel to countries like this. He says it would be really cool to travel on a train like this. I think I'm more of a Europe guy, but it would be a really cool experience to go on a train like that.
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

GarryRF ·
It isn't cool to travel on a train where you get thrown around in the carriage because the tracks are warped with age John ! Many journeys take 24 hours of hanging on like a Roller Coaster ! That's just in Asia. You'll be fine in Europe.
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

Jill's Scene ·
Fascinating read! If I do take this train trip, and it's currently included in the plan, for our hoped for trip to Mynamar later this year, I can't say I wasn't warned. Coming from a country that shakes, rattles, and rolls pretty much every day there were two things about the earthquake that worried me. First, it was big enough to produce screams!! Second, it seems that no-one bothered to check the tracks before the train left the station. And so as I was reading I expected a derailment -...
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
Jill, one thing I didn't think to say when I wrote this report is, consider buying 2nd class seats. I could see into the next car, as it swayed in the opposite direction from ours, and it was fitted with wooden benches, presumably bolted down and consequently a less harrowing ride. It may be more crowded but also more interesting.
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

Jill's Scene ·
That's a very handy tip, thanks.
Blog Post

The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
The earthquake should have been a clue.  But having rather enjoyed the ride, as I have since childhood in an earthquake-prone part of the world, it didn't occur to me that it might be a warning.  I should have listened.
Blog Post

Gumbo's Pic of the Day, January 25, 2014: Thu Bon River, Vietnam

PortMoresby ·
Very near where the Thu Bon River flows into the South China Sea, it passes through the delightful town of Hoi An, about halfway down the length of the country between Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
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