There is a bit of rain over here

Our trip was going quite well until there came a little bit of rain.  Well maybe more than a bit, a typhoon landed upon both the philipines and vietnam killing over 200 in philipines and well over 100 here in vietnam.  Thankfully up north in Sapa we were relatively immune to the storm with very little rain hitting us, however with its impending arrival up north there was a large push of people to get into the overnight trains down south.  Now if you have never felt like a refugee I highly recommend the experience.  Several hundred travelers cram into a small train terminal trying to board the overnight train to Hanoi.  Keep in mind the door to the trains is chained shut but this does not stop locals from pushing their way to the front only to encounter an obstacle of a chain and a police officer.  This does not stop then from rattling the door and screaming at the police officer, to no avail.  Almost two hours we wait in 90 degree heat with people continuing to push from behind until finally they open the doors and it was as if Noah's ark's doors opened.  A veritable stampede of people, keep in mind all berths are preassigned.  Thankfully our coach conductor is a tough 100 year old cranky officer who is incredibly strict keeping poachers away from our berths and literally locks us in the room to protect our berths.  Even more feelings of safety arises when we observe the conductor placing padlocks on all the outside doors right before leaving, let's hope no accidents ever hit this train station.

We are so exhausted at this point we collapse and sleep the entire ride back down south only to be woken up by rattling at the door at the crazy hour of 5:30.  Now here is the question what do we do for the remainder of our trip with this typhoon in the middle of the country.  Unfortunately we had to cancel our flight to Hua since that airport is completely closed, so alas we had to spend the day shopping.  A terrible tragedy that we endured with grace and ponosh.

During shopping we were at a random stall negotiating for some pictures when a very drunk male grabbed my father and started screaming in his face.  Three police officers were within 5ft and did absolutely nothing.  Finally one of the other shop owners came and moved the drunk away.  It certainly caught us off guard.  The rest of the day passed without incident with some great shopping and one lovely massage for myself. 

Oh yes maybe I should elaborate on this experience.  I asked at the front desk for a reasonable place to get a massage.  He looks at me with raised eyebrows and asked just for me or with my family.  When I answer just for me he gives me a knowing look until I finally get clear just looking for normal massage.  I don't think he believes me but directs me to a local place.  For the low low fee of $10 (compared to around $60 in states) I get a very interesting 75 minute Vietnamese massage.  The most memorable was the butt massage, yes we are talking kneeded, shaken and rotated.  It took all my self control not to laugh.  All of those who aredying to ask not even a question of anything naught ever arose, but I did feel great afterwards.

The next day a freakishly early flight to saigon and decision time based on weather now that we had to change our itinerary.