China by train (Part 1)



I love trains. I have taken hard seats and hard sleepers across Europe, India and China. I have experienced the luxury of soft sleeper on the Trans Mongolian from Beijing to Moscow, and ridden on the roof of a train in war-torn Cambodia.

This month I am taking a train from Laos to China, and then to Vietnam. 

I had thought I would take the train all the way from Singapore to Laos and onwards, but I have done much of the Singapore to Bangkok journey before. Given the time constraints, and work obligations, I decided to fly to Vientiane for my first meeting, and then take a train to my last in Hanoi next weekend. 

As there is no train from Laos to Vietnam, the obvious alternative is the train from Laos to China and then to Hanoi. The latter just reopened last month after being suspended since Covid in 2020.

So here we are on day one of this mini trip. 10:00 Scoot from Singapore to Vientiane.

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