Directional Capabilities
07.18.2009 Greetings,
After two weeks avoiding whizzing whirling dervish motorcycle drivers, with clear intentions I ventured forth to the train station before high noon. It is your basic long cement blocked projectile with a neon sign saying "Ha Noi Train Station."
On a Friday few people were there. Wait until it's time to leave. To the left was a room with counters selling tickets. I passed a window where a red sign read, "Brigade Leaders Collect Team Tickets Here."
The counter room is narrow with plastic seating and numbered glass windows. At the end of the room next to the W.C. is a huge mirror wearing a heavy brown lacquered frame. The illusion of space. Counter #2 is where foreigners get their tickets. There are a variety of trains and options; softsleeper, soft seat, hard seat and no seat.
I'm taking the SE1 overnight train from Ha Noi to Hue. Leaves at 1930, arrives at 0809. A great city on the Perfume River known for art and architecture. Resplendent.
From Hue I travel by bus to Hoi An.
"I would like a ticket to Hue please. One way."
A woman looked through her thick glasses. "Soft sleeper." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. She knows foreigners taking the night train want to sleep, have children to take care of them when they are old, cook over open fires while admiring the natural scenery before it's gobbled up by profit oriented companies as locals try to improve their standard of living dreaming a little dream.
"Tonight?" asked the woman. Sharply. "No, Sunday please."
She pointed to a calendar on the counter. Number 19. Yes, I nodded. She punched in the numbers. She pulled out a pink ticket.
"That's 533 Dong." ($33) She showed me the number on her calculator. I paid. She handed me the ticket and dropped the crumpled extra bills on the counter like so many leaves fluttering from a tree. Boredom enveloped her.
"It leaves at 1930." "Thank you." I wandered away.
Excellent. My last train trip was from Hydarpasa in Istanbul to Ankara.
Metta.
tm leonard
Click-clack, my baby's leaving down the tracks.
She's my Southbound girl, caught the overnight express from Ha Noi to Hue, the city of her dreams, nightmares, realities, old and new paths.
"Will you be back?" I cried, leaving a tear on track #9.
"Maybe baby," she sang, her brown eyes wailing her mystery, her love, her desire, her memory.
As the old lyrics go..."When the train left the station there were two lights on behind. When the train left the station there were two lights on behind. One light was my baby, and the other was my mind. All my love's in vain."
Ain't no'thin but the blues.
