This train ride is one of my favorite travel memories. Our travels thus far in Vietnam have been some of the most comfortable we’d experienced in Asia. Clean buses equipped with wifi, luxurious speed boats, and some of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever seen. So when I booked our 17 hour train trip departing from Saigon at 7 pm and arriving to Danang the next day at 12:30, I pictured sharing a bottle of wine in the dining cart while playing cards and watching the countryside roll by. Not so.

We entered our 4 berth train car to find this sweet couple and their entire family wishing them farewell before their two day journey to Hanoi. The family quickly said their goodbyes and made room for us. The first few minutes were very awkward. They didn’t speak any English and my Vietnamese went as far as ordering a ca phe sua da, the delicious Vietnamese iced coffee found on every corner I have visited in Vietnam.

We looked desperately for the bar cart. And then a snack cart? How about a cart where we can sit? Nope. Just this tiny berth for the night.

We ran out to the stalls surrounding the train and found a bottle of Vietnamese wine, a few beers and a couple of bahn mi chays. This would have to hold us over for the next 17 hours.

Little did we know we would be well taken care of. Our new Vietnamese grandmother took very good care of us, feeding us corn, éclairs, nuts, gum, anything she had she insisted in a very Vietnamese grandmother way that we eat it and eat it all. This experience very quickly went from awkward to heart warming. I felt very lucky to get to hang out with this gem of a couple for a night.

We talked, each in our own language, and giggled because we didn’t understand a word the other said. We never stopped trying though.

It was a special night. And I hope that wherever they are, my Vietnamese grandparents are laughing still.