I caught the overnight train from Saigon to Danang. This was to be the first of many train trips on my way to Europe, so it was a good test run to see how I would cope.



I had a top bunk in a cabin that was supposed to be for 4 people, but in reality there were 6 of us that slept in the cabin. None of the other passengers in the cabin spoke a word of English (and I don't know any Vietnamese), so communication was limited to smiles and hand gestures. But they were all as friendly as you could expect, and apart from things being very stuffy with broken ventillation, the trip was fine.



Unfortunately I think the lack of ventillation and the fact I was pretty run down meant that by the time I got off the train the next day I had caught a cold from one of the other passengers in my cabin.



I left the train (which runs the length of Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi) at Danang, the site of China Beach and where the American's first landed during the Vietnam war. I was to be staying in a beautiful quiet town about 30km away called Hoi An. Unfortunately because I got sick, I had to stay in bed and extend my stay by a few nights and miss out on some other plans I had.



After my stay in Hoi An, I was to continue this train ride with another overnight journey to Hanoi. But due to the fact I was running 3 nights behind schedule, I made the decision to fly to Hanoi instead and make up for a lost night. I still have plenty of overnight train rides ahead of me through China, Mongolia, across Russia and then everywhere in Europe.



All shots taken with Panasonic GF1.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been sick, but I'm also glad to hear that you've recovered and made it back on your route.

This travelogue gets more and more fascinating....

Great images, so much more valuable with the story behind them.

Beautiful imagery... I'm reading a book on Vietnam at he moment, so thanks for sharing.

Neat!
This is like reading the National Geographics in the doctor's waiting-room!
Seriously though(and this is something I try to do also), it's not so much what you're photoing that does it for me, but the way in which you're seeing. There is also a nice resonance added by the "series" and live-photojournalistic nature of the shots.

Great stuff Kombi - am following the blog as well.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm posting regular updates to my blog now (http://kombisaurus.blogspot.com) so there's probably no point double-posting them here.
Maybe I should post the occassional photo here still? I dunno... any thoughts?

Maybe one photo here with a link to the blog when ever you update it?

I agree with Chris; that'd be a brill compromise...your stuff is more than worth submitting here and it works really well here. I admit I'm more likely to want to keep seeing them here just through force of habit, rather than have to nip off somewhere else in my daily "online window". By the same token, seeing a pic here, and as Chris said, putting a link, will then tweak me to go to your blog...sort of like frequent advertising getting me to buy the product!