There was no heating and it was cold. Still hot beverages and snacks were available. The shared WC was too small. Toilet paper was a available. The blanket provided was too thin for the cold weather. The cost was low for a 8hours trip. The personnel helpful and cheerful!
I booked first class but it didn’t feel like it. The carriage was quite old and didn’t feel clean at all. There was no proper sink to wash my face. The bed was ok. Not sure if they wash the beddings.
Service was great - lady behind the counter spoke English very well, she gave us water and we waited in hotel lounge. Than she escorted us to our train and our train cabin. We shared a cabin with two other travelers. Beds and cabin was clean except top shelves were a bit dusty.
In a train was small snack, coke, water and wet tissues for everyone. AC could be stronger (top beds were little bit hot). Ride with a train was a little bit bumpy and noisy but we counted on it… we would appreciate earplugs in a service packet.
Train arrived on time.
We booked the Laman because they said the have wifi and we really needed to be able to connect to some meetings. Wifi did not work, we asked the workers, they said they will check it but never did and never gave us feedback about it.
If you’re looking for an excuse to upgrade your sleeper, this is is. The trip gets an overall 2 stars because it was clean and it left and arrived on time. But that’s sadly where the good times ended for us. Our seats had been changed and that wasn’t communicated well enough to the guys onboarding us, so we walked from section to section hoping for help. By the times we got to our bed we were questioned a few times, but thankfully not kicked off. We had someone either leave or arrive at every stop which was very disruptive. My least favourite was the drunk who literally stumbled in and collapsed on his bed. Then the door wouldn’t stay closed, so we unfortunately had it open all night. Really wishing I’d just paid the extra for a private 2 bed room to avoid all the disruptions.
My spouse, three sons (10 months and 3 and 6 years old) took the night Laman Express from Hanoi to Sa Pa. Everything was explained and organized in a very good way. The staff was very friendly and attentive. Additionally, the prices are super fair, our cabin was very clean and comfortable, we found some sleep and we arrived safely and in time in Sa Pa.
They sell more VIP cabins than they have! We were told on the spot that there's a malfunction in one of the cabins and they had to move us to a different car. We and other 3 families ended up in a car of a different standard that the photos promised. We had our private cabin surrounded by locals that smoked cigarettes all the time, acted very loud till 2AM. The cabin looked like arranged quickly to match the VIP standard. I made it to the destination safe and in clean conditions but the overall experience felt overpriced. I would not recommend Laman.
Service is good, sheets are clean, but in the end it is just another old nighttrain waggon, better than Indian, worse than Europe, similar to Russian. So don‘t expect miracles from Laman. The „pre-travel checkin“ is unnecessary, it just makes you stay 45min at the lobby. But you get free water and are guided to the train. :)
