European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A slow tour of Vietnam by Denis d. Gray the associated press we chugged out of Hanoi into Vietnam a War scarred Countryside on a Chilly Gray morning bouncing along in a 1940s Railroad coach on its last legs. Some 1,070 exotic and exhausting Miles later we rattled into tropical to Chi Minh City greeted by the blare o Rock n Roll. Averaging just Over 20 Mph the train is inappropriately named the reunification express. Frances train a Grande Viesse zips along at More than 10 times that Speed. But the slow Speed is probably a Blessing Given the Way water buffaloes Amble across the rickety tracks and the crumbling Bridges built in colonial times vietnamese trams Are certainly not Lor pampered travellers the premiere so called a Sott bed Quot class thatures hard bunks and threadbare bedding. Those who insist on showers can trickle some water out of an empty Beer can while bouncing inside a toilet Slick with sludge. My travelling companion Tim Page a British photographer wounded five times in the Vietnam War insisted we go soft bed. On an earlier third class journey he had picked up ringworm and Claustrophobia while sardines among More than a dozen passengers in a compartment designated for six. But there were Rich compensations. The Hanoi to to Chi Minh railway is a kaleidoscopic passage Down the length of a starkly Beautiful and tragic land. And the 48-hour ride which we broke up with two stopovers offers the Chance to rub shoulders with officials dissidents smugglers and even sex soldiers the rail line itself is a Marvel. Built by French colonials and coolies Between 1899 and 1936, it was destroyed in the conflict Between the French and communists restored and knocked out again during the Vietnam War a by guerrilla saboteurs in South Vietnam and by american warplanes in the North. With some soviet bloc Aid and a lot of Patchwork Effort the Tine with its 27 tunnels and 1,300 Bridges was reopened on dec. 31, 1976. Then a Symbol of reunification Between North and South Vietnam it has since become a vital National Carrier of goods and people we started from the vietnamese capital with about 800 other passengers aboard 11 cars pulled by a czech diesel locomotive. The first stretch of the journey took us through the red River Delta where both past destruction and current Progress Are on View. Craters from american bombs pock Mark the land although Many now serve As Lish Ponds. The Fields Are still sown with a detonated explosives and some Lactone remain skeletons waiting to be fleshed out a major target of . Warplanes was the Ham Rong dragons jaw Bridge a choke Point for War Materiel moving South irom Hanoi. As anti aircraft lire blazed from the surrounding Limestone Hills some 300 . Planes swooped Down Here during the War and Many never returned to Home base a a smart bomb Quot finally destroyed the Span in mid-1972, but a defiant slogan a Laid out in White stones on a Hillside a reflects the North vietnamese View of their stubborn defense. A Quyet thang a a or a total Victory Quot it reads. The open windows of the train also framed portraits of Rural life both timeless and much invigorated in recent years through infusions of freedoms and capitalist incentives into a once unproductive marxist system fishermen paddle along a River near Danang As a freight train passes weary passengers sleep in a third class car on the reunification express to to Chi Minh City. Peasant women jogged through Post Harvest stubble and past ancestral tombs balancing buckets of night soil from poles Slung on their shoulders water buffaloes tugged at plows and seas of conical hats surged toward country markets under the Gray late Monsoon skies. Along the rail line stood Many newly built houses with neat facades and Bright Orange tiled roofs indicating that after decades of hardship Farmers were finally Able to enjoy More than a marginal existence. There were Many stops in route and at each the train was besieged by begging children Petty thieves and hawkers Selling bananas French bread noodles Beer newspapers and slaughtered chickens the latter sold to our dining car which produced a steady flow of edibles cabbages and cucumbers were sliced by women squatting on the floor. Eggs were peeled Beans shelled and Mounds of pork hacked up on dining room tables As the chel presided Over a steaming cauldron and flaming wok. The smell of garlic and roasting meats wafted through what soon resembled an asian marketplace albeit on wheels. In the afternoon the train passed through the narrow Central a Panhandle Quot of Vietnam the infertile soils and harsh climate of which have produced some of the toughest communists including the deceased revolutionary Leader to Chi Minh. A line of peasants deepened an irrigation canal with hoes and buckets and crops were being tended without the most rudimentary of labor easing devices. Here the roofs were of thatch the Rice paddies Rocky the hillsides denuded and the land still soaked with receding floodwaters which last year and in Many years past ruined already meager harvests after Midnight the train rattled across a Bridge Over the perfume River and pulled into Hue the one time Royal capital and a repository of some of the finest in vietnamese culture. Despite the ravages of the past including Savage fighting during the 1968 tet offensive and the execution of More than 2,800 civilians by the communists Hue was eminently Worth a Stopover the next stretch featured the journey s High Post the Hai Van pass a geographical Divide Between North and South which ancient warriors the japanese French and americans variously tried to penetrate or defend the train inched Over narrow viaducts Slid through tunnels and hugged sheer Cliffs As it panted upward and then glided Down the Southern end of the pass of the Ocean Clouds a Mountain Range Rose to our right and straight below us on the left the water roiled and hissed As Waves crashed against huge boulders. In the distance mists floated above the South China sea we paralleled this spectacular coastline through the Day catching glimpses of former . Bases such As Phu Bai and Chu Lai where the military somewhat sur realistically held surfing championships. The scene we passed was tranquil water buffaloes trudged Home from Emerald Green Rice Fields a red Sun descended toward Distant Mountain ridges a Mournful vietnamese Ballad played on the train s loudspeakers late that night the train made it to Nha Trang a rest and recreation spot for american troops during the War and Center of Vietnam a Riviera to be. There we ate crab shrimp and squid plucked right from the sea on a virtually deserted arc of shimmering Beach which one Day May Well be jammed with High rises Nguyen Huu Kuych a provincial tourism official told about plans for a club Mediterranean resort a British Golf course development and italian tour agencies keen on near Hanoi an elderly vietnamese Man feels the wind on his face from his open train window. Reunification express an Engineer pokes at the steam engines fire. Scuba diving safaris. The last leg of our trek was an overnight ramble through humid drizzle to to Chi Minh City which locals prefer to Call by its former name Saigon. Replete with Iron Grill work and inlaid Wood our Carriage was a French relic from the Early 1940s and bore Little evidence of having seen brooms or paint since. The train master informed us the car was shortly to be retired and we All toasted its longevity. Our cramped quarters took on a party atmosphere As passengers and Crew dropped by Lor Beers and chats in vietnamese French and barely comprehensible English. The train chief recalled his wartime service in Laos a conductor talked about her six years on the rails and the two children she supported in Hanoi on a monthly salary of $16. A pistol packing Security guard Veteran of the to Chi Minh Trail described How goods were smuggled across the chinese Border and onto the southbound train the next morning i woke up to a stiff Back and a bunk which had somehow reared upward at a 45-degree Angle from the Wall we were chugging past rubber plantations and fruit Orchards retracing the route of the North vietnamese army As it closed in on Saigon in 1975 with dreams of creating a sober socialist City five Days after leaving Hanoi our dishevelled group stumbled off the train and was soon swallowed up by battalions of hawkers fleets of bicycles and teeming alleys where capitalism had run riot to the beat of Rock before departing Hanoi officials of the Vietnam railways department had apologized for any inconveniences we would encounter and promised to have a much improved 36-hour express on the track by 1995 Page 14 a the stars and stripes monday january 27, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 15