Transportation. 17th June

A few words on transportation so far. The flight from Delhi to Bangkok was just another flight, no better, no worse, but had to be done.
From Bangkok to the Cambodian border we took a train, a charming experience. It was 3rd class, three wagons with open doors and windows, wooden benches and full of people with all their belongings, including livestock. It was a 5 hours trip and the tickets could be bought only on the same day.
We took a taxi to Siem Riep, uneventful and as there wasn’t enough water in the Tonle Sap to take a boat to Phnom Penh, we took another taxi. Again uneventful. Same for the bus ride to Saigon.
The train Saigon-Hanoi takes 30 hours, was moderately clean, had no restaurant, but someone brought us rice, vegetables and pork. The food was decent, but I prefer a resto car.
Enter the Dragon. Hanoi-Beijing takes 40 hours, two full nights. The first train to Dang Dong was clean, first class and we had it all for ourselves. In Dang Dong we changed trains and the Chinese one was one of the best I have taken. Clean, good bed linen, white table cloth and one of the best restaurants I have experienced on a train. Equals the one on the old, four hour pre TGV, Bruxelles-Paris, where I had a four coursed meal beginning with a Bouchées á la Reine with caviar. Real caviar. Top marks to China. The comparison with the Delhi-Bombay Express first class sleeper is not in Indias favour. Same goes for the train stations. Here they are clean. Remarkable what you can do with a billion people. But then again, India has the same number, but just not the results.