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Oct. 27. Woke up at 05:30 & ran down to say goodbye to Johnny & Lisa who were going to Hong Kong & Heather who were flying down to Bangkok. Johnny gave me his worn but useful L.P. Vietnam book (it's ragged Johnny but I still got it!) Perry came just in time for the last best friend photo - Then we all went separate ways for a while. Well David - Annemette & I went down to buy train tickets for Hue - for some strange reason we ended up with tickets for 2 different trains going south that night.(Only 30 min. After each other!) Then Annemette & I went over to the GPO to send the last letters & pick up the last poste restante letters for all of us. We ate some tomato soup on the way back - said goodbye to the owners of Queens guesthouse & went home to the hotel to pack. Met David in his room & walked down to the station. After a goodbye beer - we entered our train wagon & this is where we are now - I'm in the top bed (we're traveling soft sleeper) there are 65cm.from bed to ceiling - I can't even sit up! & I got 12 hours ahead of me! Oct 28. 12 hours!!!!!! What a joke - here we are somewhere north of Hue - the tracks are flooded - we're at a hilltop - & there is water everywhere around us! Wonder where David is (he was at a small train station where he could buy food ). We haven't had anything to eat & are starving!!!!!! Our fellow travelers must have noticed the hungry way we looked at the chickens running around outside the train - because one of them said something to the train conductor & he waved at us to follow him down in the staff wagon. Here they told us to sit down - they giggled & gave us chopsticks & placed a lot of food on the table. Then they all sat down to stare at us. Cool! ;P But we didn't have any problems eating with chopsticks & they all applaud when we finished the meal - then they giggled some more & placed a jar full of water & tiny little super hot chilies in front of us! "Dig in" we whispered to each other. I "fished " a couple of chilies up pretended to chew them & swallowed them whole. So did Annemette though I think she chewed the first & yes it was HOT. We were accepted & only had to pay ½ the price of the food. The train trip finally ended after 24 hours in rainy Hue. We started to walk up le Loi street - a girl on a motorbike followed us. "Where are you going???" - "to hotel Morin!" - "it's not there anymore" she said & she was right! Well - we were going to meet Perry there (he was flying down) & David coming in the next train. We agreed to follow her to her family hotel if she would take us back to David's train - which she of course accepted.(more guests) & so it went - the hotel Thanh Thuy is placed in a narrow side alley - right across to a wonderful vegi-restaurant . David didn't mind it either. Tomorrow we'll try to look for Perry.