Back on the train, this time from Hue to Hanoi overnight and as before, bring what you want to eat and drink and minimize visits to the “facilities” and you’ll be fine. A bit warm and humid but overall an overnight train ride just like anywhere else.There is an interesting story associated with this part of the trip from Hue to Hanoi. When I boarded the train I put my bag under the bottom bunk. Shortly thereafter I was joined by a middle aged Vietnamese couple with whom I would share the compartment. They attempted to put their bag under the bunk as I had done but for some reason it wouldn’t fit. So I got down on my hands and knees reaching under the bunk to see what was stopping it.
My head was turned toward the couple as I felt under the bunk. Way back in the corner I grabbed something that, to me, felt like what I think a dead woman’s leg would feel like. It was fleshy and cool to the touch and felt as though it was wrapped in nylon (hence, dead woman’s leg.) I grabbed hold of it pulling it out from under the bunk and as it emerged, I saw a look of horror come across the faces of my traveling companions. What I had was not a leg but a 6 foot cobra snake wrapped in a mosquito net.
The snake belonged to a conductor who was smuggling it north from Saigon. Cobra meat is an illegal delicacy with many men drinking the snake’s blood believing it to be an aphrodisiac. However not for me. One bite and I would have been toast. How ironic to have survived the war only to die decades later on that train.
