Reunification Express train ride

[CedricVerhelst]

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Using public transport in Vietnam was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life. First we took a train from Hanoi to Ninh Binh. Since it was just a short trip —2 to 3 hours I think— we decided to save some money and take the cheapest one available. It was cold and rainy and we were surrounded by locals who didn't understand one word of English. The coaches were also quite filthy and the seats were not made for tall Westerners. But I am happy we decided to travel with the locals. Because it wasn't that easy for us to get into the 'normal' lifestyle during the rest of our trip around the country (northern part). It seemed like there is this whole trajectory set out for tourists. And whether you like it or not, you end up getting sucked into it. It would have been nice to know someone there who could have taken us to the 'other' places.

Still, some of the typical touristy trips are absolutely worth doing and just as memorable. One of them is the famous train ride from Hue to Da Nang. It's called the Reunification Express because the train that drives all the way from the North to the South and back, symbolizing the reunification of the country.

There's this part where the train rides into the mountains, where you can see the mountains on one side and the sea on the other. Absolutely breathtaking! We were also very lucky because at the time we took this train, the sun just came through the clouds. The light was wonderful. Of course, I took some pictures there.

 

I have posted a series on my blog. Please have look here: Cedric Verhelst, Reunification Express

 

All these were taken with an M9 and 50mm summilux. I have post-processed them with Lightroom and Color Efex 4.

 

I tend to stay away from heavy filters because I don't want to use too many 'tricks' but I believe in this case the Color FX was justified. I had to take the photos through dirty windows and couldn't get enough contrast in them with Lightroom. But I still wanted to suggest being in a train, so I kept some unsharpness and didn't crop out the window frames and reflections.

 

What do you think? Thank you for watching and your feedback.

[pauledell]

Cedric,

 

An excellent series and it looks like you did have a memorable trip. Thanks for your interesting narrative.

 

Paul

[stuny]

Cedric -

 

Lovely shot and narrative.

 

If you return to Vietnam you might want to consider making arrangements with Ann Tours, which can no doubt arrange the into-the-local-culture travel you would like. Here's what Barbara wrote about them in her trip notes on our site about our visit to Vietnam and Cambodia:

 

" I had read about this agency while researching the trip and immediately wanted to book with them. Not only are they highly recommended by many sources, but their history is inspiring. During the war, Mrs. Nong was separated from her two sons, who ended up in southern California living with a distant relative. She tried in vain to locate them and eventually started a travel agency to enlist the help of travelers who might have had contact with them. After many years, she found them. By then they had business degrees so they returned to Vietnam to join their mother in the family business. I had never booked an international trip with a foreign company via the Internet before, but Tony Nong was so responsive and professional via email that we took the chance and we’re very glad that we did. We got to meet Tony in person at the agency. He reviewed our itinerary, offered helpful suggestions and gave us our trip materials. We highly recommend this agency if you travel to Vietnam - they were very responsive and accommodating and provided terrific guides and drivers at excellent rates. They offer group tours but will also customize private itineraries as they did for us.

 

"One valuable piece of advice that Tony provided was how to cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City. While there aren’t very many cars, the streets of HCMC are clogged with motorbikes, whose drivers largely ignore traffic conventions such as red lights and one-way traffic flow. Crossing streets is intimidating as huge squadrons of bikes bear down upon you at speed. Tony advised us to slowly and steadily walk out into the stream of traffic, never stepping backwards, and the motorbikes will maneuver around you. You must not step in front of cars or trucks though since they are less nimble and pedestrians never have the right of way."