From Hanoi I took a sleeper train down to the ancient town
of Hue (pronounced hway), boarding at around 7pm and arriving at 8.30am
the following morning. The sleeper train was much the same as the one I
took in China, except this time I was sharing with westerners. Overall,
though, the feel of the train was much more grimy and less modern.
Western toilets, though, so I can't complain. I ate my instant noodles
and we had a few beers in the train bar before they kicked us out at
10pm, and I went to bed. I slept pretty well, the rocking of the train
was perfect to put me to sleep, although the mattress was fairly hard so
I woke up the following morning feeling quite stiff.
We took a taxi from Hue station to the hotel, checked in
and then me and my friend Monique headed out to explore the Imperial
Citadel. It was very pretty, the citadel walls and buildings felt far
more ancient than anything I have seen so far, and a lot of them are
really more ruins than buildings, now. It was nice to see an ancient
town that hasn't been so heavily restored.