I'm now in Bejing. The train took 2 days and was one of the highlights of my trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the viet nam part was, of course, in a fairly crummy train car, but when we reached the border we changed to a wonderful chinese train! First class soft sleeper! very nice, clean, pretty, but the best part of all was that there were about 10 foreigners going from Hanoi to Beijing (including a couple I sat next to on one of the bus rides from hell in Viet nam). Anyway, we had an absolute blast! We talked a lot, joked a lot, played cards, drank beer, got really silly, and considered playing hide and seek or having a scavenger hunt late the second night on the train! It was really fun. I managed to look out the window for all of only 2 hours of the 36 or so hour trip- I was too busy chatting and having fun! but those two hours we went through some beautiful mountains, very pointy, rocky, unusual looking, very beautiful. I was really sad when we finally arrived in Beijing! And now I'm trying to be a tourist in beijing, but the tourist sites are so mobbed I can't get in! I mean really really mobbed. like afraid i'll be crushed to death mobbed. so I've tried to go to the forbidden city twice and to see Mao, but too crowded!
I have a new problem now. I can't seem to change my Dong into any other currency. does anyone know if an airport will do it? the chinese banks all refuse. or will I be stuck with a large sum of money in useless vietnamese dong?