Boarded the Train at Lao Cai we were in a 4 berth cabin, so far so good. Lisa and I took up 2 berths leaving the other two empty.

I made the mistake of not locking the door thinking that only people with the correct ticket would come in. Apparently not. At a stop 4 men came and camped in the remaining two berths talking loudly. Lisa told them to keep quiet, or leave, which shut them up, but it still left me unable to sleep. I was stuck unable to sleep and unable to take a rest room break because there was no way I was going to leave Lisa alone with 4 men.

A while later the train stopped and the rightful ticket holders got on and thankfully the smoke smelling, mobile call taking, loud talking uninvited guests left. My serenity was restored, and sleep came shortly after.

You can see from this photo that we were alot happier with who inhabited the berths for the remainder of the journey. They were a lovely couple with a gorgeous 3yo daughter.

So the learning point from this experience is – While in Vietnam if you have an empty berth, lock the door and only open it for the ticket holders.

At this point we are back at the Rising Dragon Villa in Hanoi. Its 5AM and we have to wait till 10AM to check-in. So we will take a shower and then head out on the town to sight-see.