i was travelling in Vietnam a few months ago and considered taking the train from Hanoi to Danang. a friend did it last year and looked pretty comfy.
looks close enough on the map and i've been spoiled by hsr in mainland China and Taiwan. well Vietnam has no hsr but it should at least be as fast as a regular train right? like 8 hours at the most? nope, almost 20. ended up not taking the train and just staying longer in hanoi instead.
Vietnam really needs to suck it up and ask China to build their railway up.
we were also in Laos and considered taking the new HSR from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. built by the chinese and looks like the chinese HSR, even connects to Yunnan, should be great.
turns out tickets are crazy expensive (LPB to Vientiane costs about the same as a cross-country ticket in China) and also you have to book them half a week in advance
sigh, the chinese system really is the best in the world, not even close
i was travelling in Vietnam a few months ago and considered taking the train from Hanoi to Danang. a friend did it last year and looked pretty comfy.
looks close enough on the map and i've been spoiled by hsr in mainland China and Taiwan. well Vietnam has no hsr but it should at least be as fast as a regular train right? like 8 hours at the most? nope, almost 20. ended up not taking the train and just staying longer in hanoi instead.
we were also in Laos and considered taking the new HSR from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. built by the chinese and looks like the chinese HSR, even connects to Yunnan, should be great. turns out tickets are crazy expensive (LPB to Vientiane costs about the same as a cross-country ticket in China) and also you have to book them half a week in advance
sigh, the chinese system really is the best in the world, not even close