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Overland from HK to Hanoi
Is it possible to travel by train from Hong Kong to Hanoi? If so, any
idea how long this trip takes? Don't really want to have to stop in China so I might fly from HK to Hanoi. I'm doing a multi-country trip and don't want to have to deal with another currency and another visa. So far I'm going to Japan, Hong Kong, Hanoi... then on to Europe Thanks, Doug |
#2
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Overland from HK to Hanoi
Sure it is possible. The fastest way would be I guess, from HK to
Guangzhou and then an overnight train to Nanning. From Nanning to the Vietnamese border. HK-Guangzhou takes an hour on the fast train. Getting tickets to Nanning in Guangzhou might be a problem; you might have to wait a few days. The trip will take at least 24 hours (maybe someone else knows exactly??). From Nanning to the Vietnamese border isn't too far. Border to Hanoi would be another long trip I guess, although I've never done it myself. So timewise you had better fly. Experience-wise, it would be interesting of course. Even the very fast trip through China would be fascinating. All depends how much time you have. Kris On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 17:33:32 -0800, Doug Pearl wrote: Is it possible to travel by train from Hong Kong to Hanoi? If so, any idea how long this trip takes? Don't really want to have to stop in China so I might fly from HK to Hanoi. I'm doing a multi-country trip and don't want to have to deal with another currency and another visa. So far I'm going to Japan, Hong Kong, Hanoi... then on to Europe Thanks, Doug |
#3
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Overland from HK to Hanoi
I think flying is the best option. It'll take you ages to arrive at Hanoi
from Hong Kong if you travel by train. "Doug Pearl" ????? ... Is it possible to travel by train from Hong Kong to Hanoi? If so, any idea how long this trip takes? Don't really want to have to stop in China so I might fly from HK to Hanoi. I'm doing a multi-country trip and don't want to have to deal with another currency and another visa. So far I'm going to Japan, Hong Kong, Hanoi... then on to Europe Thanks, Doug |
#4
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Overland from HK to Hanoi
Doug Pearl wrote:
Is it possible to travel by train from Hong Kong to Hanoi? If so, any idea how long this trip takes? Don't really want to have to stop in China so I might fly from HK to Hanoi. I'm doing a multi-country trip and don't want to have to deal with another currency and another visa. There's no crossing China without a visa and using Chinese currency, of course, so that's a problem you'll have to fly. To do it overland with minimum delay, you might want to consider a combination of luxury bus and train. There's now a luxury bus service direct from Hong Kong to Guilin, far quicker than going to Guangzhou and changing train, and pick up the twice weekly train service from Beijing to Hanoi. Leaving Guilin in the morning you reach Nanning the same day in the late afternoon. You are set free to have dinner while the train is reordered (only two carriages go on to the border), and continue in the early evening crossing the border in the middle of the night, and alighting on the Vietnamese side for a change of train to narrow gauge early in the morning. You arrive at Hanoi later in the morning of the day. If you're on a tight budget the drawback of picking up the Beijing to Hanoi train is that on the China side the only seat available is soft sleeper. If you catch other trains to Nanning then hard berths are available, and after an overnight in Nanning you could pick up a train to the border and cross it on foot, completing the journey by bus or train. But the Beijing-Hanoi train does make the process simpler. There are also border bus services from Nanning, I'm told, but I don't have any personal experience. The bus runs from Hong Kong's Tsimshatsui on Saturdays at 4pm and arrives in Guilin the next morning around 7am. CTS in Kowloon should be able to sell you tickets, and the freuqency may have increased by now. There's a stop in Yangshuo if you want to try out the well-known banana pancake paradise. The Beijing to Hanoi train is the T5 which leaves Guilin at 10.29 on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and would reach Hanoi at 06.50 on Wednesday and Sunday (remember there's a substantial time difference between China and Vietnam). Incidentally, the T5 becomes successively the T905, T909, and M2 as it proceeds to Hanoi. Peter N-H http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html |
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