20 Dec. 2011: NOT MUCH TRAINING #3 of 5

Zipped and weaved from Crazy House past the Cathedral (no easy jokes about another crazy house, please). Have to be very aware of the thousands of other motorbikes and trucks, there are local understandings, but no rules of the road. Love it. 

Next stop the oldest railway station still in use in Vietnam. Trains at first ran from the muggy heat of the coast to this cool altitude, 1928 to 1964. Then the Viet Cong declared it decadent (duh!) and shut it down. But a short section of the track has been running since 1998. Japanese steamer or Chinese diesel? The cars have hard benches but ooze the good old days of imperialism. The station is an art deco - Vietnamese mashup of colours and contours. In theory there are 5 trains a day, but nothing moves unless there are at least two (2!) passengers. All aboard!?!?