yeah, that's basically what we were on.
We decided to take a night bus from Mu Nie to Hoi An (actually we had wanted to take the train, but we would have had to take an expensive taxi for an hour to the next town to catch the train, then pay twice as much as the bus to take the train, then take another expensive taxi from the city with the train station to the city that we wanted to be in). So, 16 hour bus ride on a bus it was. We were assured that it would be a comfortable ride on a "sleeper bus" (I was very interested to what how exactly they managed to fit sleeper berths on a bus) and we would have stops for dinner and snacks.
The bus came to pick us up at our hotel at 1 in the afternoon (well, actually it was closer to 1:30 by the time it got there, nothing ever seems to be on time around here). The "sleeper" seats were... well, kind of a seat the reclines almost all the way back with a spot for your feet under the person in front of you. There were three rows of these seats and two bunks. Happily, there was a bathroom on board as well. The first 4 hours were ok, I had a nice window seat on the bottom and had a place to prop my small bag behind me (my big bag was under the bus, and I keep all of my important things in a small backpack that stays with me all the time when traveling). Besides the fact that I was right in front of the bathroom (so you can guess what I got to smell at times) it was a decent ride... more comfortable and private than a regular bus, and the scenery was really beautiful (deep red earth with bright green vegetation, rolling hills, vast blue ocean and white sand beaches, interesting villages and cute little houses along the way)
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| see the little box thing under the seat? that's where your feet go. |
After about four hours of travel we stopped in a city and people started getting off the bus... we knew our stop was at least 10 hours away, and this didn't look like a restaurant stop (no restaurants near by) so we stayed put... until a man started knocking on my window and told me to get off the bus. ok then. (ps no one updates you on what city your in, where you are stopping, how long you are stopping, or any details at all) We got off and there is utter chaos on the side of this busy city street. People are walking in all directions, all speaking loudly in a language we don't understand (Vietnamese presumably) and a man hands us our bags... we say "Hoi An" (because we know this is NOT Hoi An, so why did you get me off the bus and give me my bag?) They point us across the street to the office, we are changing buses (thanks for informing us). When we get to the office they lady loudly says "ticket, ticket" and we explain that we gave our ticket to the last bus driver. She repeats herself (as if that will magically make our tickets re appear) and we state again that we do not have tickets. We tell her where we are going and she says to wait there. Ten minutes later we are told to get in a shuttle (who asks us for our tickets as well, the motions for us to get on anyway), and are taken on a 20 min ride through the city.
We arrived to a large bus depot and were directed to our bus. After putting our bags underneath we try to board, and are greeted again with "ticket?" We explained, again, that the last bus took our ticket and we don't have a copy of it. The bus driver conversed with a man through his window and then kicked us off the bus. Great. Another man says (again) "ticket" we inform him (again) that the last bus driver took our ticket. (at this point I am visibly irritated) he then starts making this hand gesture, kind of waving his hand at us and looking at us expectantly. I asked him what he wanted from us, and he continued with this hand gesture. I told him (rather irritatedly) that I have no idea what "this" (and I mimicked his gesture) means, does he want us to go with him? To stand back? To go over there? I started wondering if we should be trying to get our bags out from under this bus. The man loudly asks us for tickets again, to which we replied (again) that we do not have them. Then he just tells us to get back on the bus. (well, that was a waste of time now wasn't it)
In a dither we finally get into our seats. This time I was in an upper bunk, which suited me fine since I had a window again. Unfortunately there was no where to put my bag, so I got to keep it right on my lap (yay).
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| just enough room for one |
Now, there is no way that I can describe this to adequately relay what it was really like on this bus. I mean, nothing I say is going to give you an accurate picture of this experience, it's one of those things that you would have to endure in order to understand. But, I shall try.
Immediately they turned the lights out (booo no reading) which made me realize how late it was (maybe 7:30ish)...which indicated there would NOT be a dinner stop, or snack stop, or water stop... that's ok... I had half a bottle of water and some oreos... (what a great dinner that was, so satisfying, so nutritious, such a variety of foods). There was nothing to do but try to sleep (at SUCH a late hour I was soooo tired), so I put in my ipod and tried to drown out the noise of people talking around me. Ten minutes later it died.
So. nothing to do in the dark. empty stomach. cramped seat (that is nothing like a bed). backpack on my stomach, between my legs, beside me while I'm on my side, down where my feet should be when I curl up, etc. ridiculously cold air conditioning blowing directly on me (mixed with cigarette smoke... the driver was smoking and the ac made it permeate the entire bus. have you smelled the combination of smoke and ac? not good). It felt as if the driver was driving like a maniac. He must have been speeding excessively, the bus jerked back and forth and back and forth (and I felt like I was going to roll right out of my upper bunk and down to the floor, so I had to hold on, or prop my feet up, or stuff my bag beside me so I didn't rock back and forth). Most of the time the bus was going around corners so fast it felt like it would topple right over. In addition to that the road felt like it was gravel half the time, rattling constantly. I told myself that it was ok, this was travelling, it's not that bad, it will make a funny story. Then the horns started getting to me. (have I told you about horn use here? Back home people use their horn as a tool to tell someone they have cut you off, or because your about to get in an accident. That's basically it. Here, however, horns have many, many, many, more uses. Basically, you just honk your horn constantly. Loudly, repeatedly, holding it down sometimes, or just doing many short honks. I think they do this when they are passing someone, when someone is just going slowly, when they pass by someone pulled off, when someone cuts them off, and sometimes I can't figure out why, they are just honking wildly). So, as I am trying to picture the bus rocking as a soothing, repetitive motion (and it jerks me wildly back and forth) and I find a somewhat comfortable position hugging my bag, I almost drift off to sleep.... HOOOOOOOOOOOONK HONK HONK HOOOOOOONK HOOOOONK HONK. I jump! Holy crap we are getting in an accident!! (in my sleepy state I assume honk usage as I have known it my entire life, and when someone honks like that, your about to hit them) Never mind. Just someone passing us. I move my bag beside me to cushion from the wild jerking motion... maybe if I didn't have to hold on so I don't fall I could relax a little more... the honking is incessant... like, every few minutes at least... the bus is going down the side of a mountain or something, jerking more wildly and inching towards toppling right over ....
Hours pass. The longest hours of my life. I realized, with dismay, that although I am trying to have a positive outlook on this whole "adventure", this just might be one of the most physically uncomfortable, fear inducing, nauseating experiences of my life. I could see the headlines "two Canadian girls killed on a bus in Vietnam" ... then, sometime in the middle of the night, we stopped and picked up about 20 more Vietnamese passengers. Who (since the bus was already full) all sat in the isles like sardines and talked loudly (you know, not like this is a sleeper bus in the middle of the night or anything...) They guy behind me translated for his friends and informed us that the other bus to Hoi An had an "accident" so the passengers are all being moved to this bus. (oh, how surprising). People climbed around the bus like monkeys (scaling the bunks and climbing over each other) in order to reach the bathroom. The air became thick with so many body's inside such a small space.
I wanted to die. (truth be told, it could have been a lot worse. Two girls we met were sitting in the back, five seats were all beside each other with nothing between them, and a solid five seat bunk was directly above them. They had absolutely nothing to hold on to (just a propped foot to stay steady), the rattling and bumping was magnified from being right in the back, and strangers rolled onto them throughout the night... it's no wonder that Katie named it "Harry Potters night bus from hell")
Needles to say, we flew from Hoi An to Hanoi.
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