The Overnight Bus

 

Vietnam is not a small country.  Mostly it is long north to south so to get from one end to the other, it takes a while.  The best way to do this is to travel between destinations overnight as the distances are often in the 8-12 hour range.  There are two options for overnight travel; the train or the less expensive overnight bus.  From the title, I am sure that you can guess which of these we used.

Overnight buses are regular-sized buses but instead of seats, are outfitted with recliners in bun-bed configuration.  Upon first inspection, they appear pretty tolerable.  One can lie flat and the bus provides a little pillow and blanket.

Once the bus gets moving, the fun starts.  While the bus itself may be alright, one is still in Vietnam so all of the rest of the rules of Vietnam apply.  The first, if you remember from a previous posting, is the major rule of Vietnamese driving: honk at all times.  Bus drivers might even honk more than most and sleeping through that is not easy.

Also once lying down, the deficiencies of the bed become apparent.  Let’s just say that most Vietnamese people and Sally fit into them.  The rest of us have to sleep in a fetal position to get our feet to fit.  Smoking is of course not allowed, which is why everyone, including the driver does so but at least there is some chemical sprayer that sprays what I am pretty sure was Drakar Noir every 10 minutes.  The buses are outfitted with TVs which means that over the honking, you also get to watch/listen to really, really, really bad Chinese martial arts films that are sad caricatures of themselves, replete with the sounds that a bigot would use to make fun of Mandarin.  Combine that with the inability to use a thermostat on an air conditioner (either all the way on and freezing or off and hot) that is a common developing nation deficiency and you have 12 hours of fun!