Let me begin by saying if you ever find yourself in Vietnam do not take An Phu buses. The short haul from HCMC to Mui Ne was okay. We boarded the bus last and were placed in two chez lounge style seats. This, however, did set us up for a future fall. Because the overnight ride from Mui Ne to Hoi An can only be described as hellish. Our mistake was to seek out the same travel company, but how were we to know? The bus picked us up at our hotel (on-time by Vietnamese standards - 15 minutes late), drives literally 2 minutes, and stops for lunch. After resuming the journey, we (Eliza) strikes up a conversation with the disgruntled looking group around us. Apparently they had been told it would only take four hours to travel from HCMC to Na Trang, and were now disappointed to learn, after sitting for four hours, they were only half way. The ride from Mui Ne to Na Trang was smooth enough and even had a rest stop.
As we neared Na Trang, we scoured our guide books for a place to eat. Assuming, since it was 6pm, this would be our dinner stop. We found a Mexican place and our hearts skipped a beat. However, we drove right past the Mexican restaurant, and when we did stop we were told it would only be for 15 minutes to pick up more passengers. Fourty-five minutes later we departed and a new passenger told us she was informed dinner would be at 9pm. 9pm came and went, no dinner. So we asked our non-English speaking driver. He pointed to midnight on Eliza's watch and held up three finger. Dinner at midnight, why not? After bouncing and jolting our way for the next three hour on a seat/bed concoction we both arrived at "dinner" in a royal mood. After not being informed how long we would stay for dinner by the non-English speaking driver, Eliza inquired what would I like for dinner and received a couple of non-committal grunts as a response. After a trip to the snack counter she returned with Oreos and Ritz. Both highly appreciated.
To describe the next six hours as bone-jarringly rough would be an understatement. I didn't sleep a wink, and let me list a few reasons why sleep on a sleeper bus is rare:
- The chez lounge style beds are a good concept, but fall far short of expectations.
- The entirety of Vietnam drives with their brights on.
- The roads are either washboard dirt, gravel, or pot hole filled asphalt. Or all three.
- At random intervals the road drops to one lane (for both directions to use) and passing on the left (or right) becomes an even more death defying task then usual
- And finally. The horn is used when overtaking, when alerting another car you are approaching from behind, when alerting another car you are approaching from the front (high-beams apparently not being enough), when going around a corner, when passing your favorite tree, when your karaoke DVD singer hits a high note, and when alerting other drivers to the presence of the pot hole you just drove though.
Through the good grace of several local deities (most of whom were located in statue form on the bus dashboard) we made it to Hoi An. After politely telling the motorbike drivers we didn't need a ride, and informing the local hotel representatives that we already had a reservation, we set off to find a hotel.
Day 61 - Hoi An is famous for being one of the better kept towns in terms of the french colonial architecture and for tailor made clothing. Anything you could ever want, have ever seen someone wearing, or exists in a fashion magazine can and is copied here. Started the very sleepy morning with an extended breakfast and search for a mannequin in shorts I liked as it turns out traveling in SE Asia in the hot season without shorts simply doesn't work. Located a cute pair in front of one shop and then spent the next 35 minutes picking fabric, getting measured and deciding how modest the shorts should be. A mere six dollars later and my shorts will be ready at 3pm....woo hoo.
The ever-present cyclosAfter a much needed nap (read previous post on "sleeper" bus), I talked John into some tailored clothing, his only caveat being either 3 pieces or pin stripes. Ended out the day by taking in some of the well kept building and a nice dinner on the river.
The Covered BridgeDay 62 - Decided that the best way to see the My Son ruins was going first thing in the morning (guess who made that decision). So 4:45 am rolls around and we are up and at 'em, waiting on the stoop of our hotel, with the rolling gate closed and one of the front desk staff sleeping in the entrance behind us. As with all timetables thus far, our 5 am bus pulls up a mere 25 minutes late and we are off. Turns out that with no traffic it is only a 30 minute drive and the site doesn't actually open for another half hour. The ruins were quite serene, especially with only 10 people wandering the entire area.
Many are in the process of being repaired as they were used by the Vietcong as a base and heavily bombed until international pressure persuaded the US to not target this site. As we headed back into town around 10 am we passed loads of huge buses taking the crowds out to the site, glad John pushed for the early tour.
John as a part of My Son
As the main draw in Hoi An is the historic building and the clothing shops, the rest of the day was pretty similar to the afternoon prior, with the added bonus of finding a major market. All in all, quite nice city.
Market chicks
Many are in the process of being repaired as they were used by the Vietcong as a base and heavily bombed until international pressure persuaded the US to not target this site. As we headed back into town around 10 am we passed loads of huge buses taking the crowds out to the site, glad John pushed for the early tour.
John as a part of My SonAs the main draw in Hoi An is the historic building and the clothing shops, the rest of the day was pretty similar to the afternoon prior, with the added bonus of finding a major market. All in all, quite nice city.
Market chicksDay 63 - Woke up to a city wide power outage, seems to be quite a frequent occurrence as all the major hotels had generators going. Our bus to Hue arrived a mere 45 minutes late and our driver spent the entire journey attempting to make up this lost time. Lucky for him a new 6km tunnel through a mountain was recently finishing (shaving 21km off the ride), un-lucky for him there were some road closures due to flooding and we had to take a detour. Made it to Hue in one piece and were greeted with weather cool enough for a light sweater.
Day 64 - The city of Hue is more like a large town, pretty mellow. Headed out this morning to visit the Citadel, where the largest Vietnamese flag flies. As with the My Son ruins, this area was heavily bombed during the war and much of the Citadel is undergoing some major reconstruction. On our way in we did get a chance to see a post-card in action. Three girls in traditional dress rode bikes all in a row down the same stretch of road a number of times as the photographer snapped away. Then, after the makeup woman did touch-ups they repeated. At least our best guess is a post card in the making.
Day 65 - Hit with a bout of bravery, we decided to rent bicycles today and peddle out to a pagoda. Pretty soon we were on our jolly way, each with a basket equipped bike, mine with a bell to boot!
Our very cool rides
Approaching the first intersection and seeing only 14 seconds left for the green I decided to pedal faster. As a red doesn't really mean stop to most drivers here, the rapid pedaling westerner on a bike was definitely the cause of some swerving and breaking by those around me. We decided that the next intersection the key was going to be taking it nice and slow, just the like other Vietnamese on bikes were doing. Once we got that down, it was a pretty nice ride out to the pagoda. Each site has a scooter/bike attendant who will guard your bike while you see the monument of choice.
Feeling very brave after pulling this off, we decided to ride over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Not such a popular site. After sitting on the front steps for 20 minutes we were ready to give up, but lucked out when a gentleman came around and asked us if we'd like to look inside the church. Rounded out the day with a trip to Vietnam Airlines to purchase tickets into Vientaine, Laos (as we learned a while back, though they have a website with tickets "for sale", all actual purchases originate from an office and can only be bought by a person).
During our travels we saw several Hahn Cafe sleeper buses at various points. They all looked new, clean, and much better than whatever we were on. So in Hoi An we booked our next two bus journeys with them. The ride from Hoi An to Hue was a mere four hours, and was traveled with out incident. However, the bus was not a Hahn Cafe bus as we were used to seeing them. We thought this might be due to the fact we were on a day trip bus not a sleeper bus. It was only after the bus scheduled to go from Hue to Hanoi showed up did we realize we might have booked with a fake "Hahn Cafe".
Our bus from Hue to Hanoi arrived right on time (at 6pm of the quoted 5:30 to 6pm range). We hoisted ourselves on to the bus and into our sleeper bunks. These bunks are a great idea for someone of average Vietnamese stature, and probably serves 90% of the population beautifully. However, neither Eliza or I fit into the 90% window. In which case the beds serve as somewhat of a torture device. The bunks are too short to lie down flat and too reclined to sit properly. Let me draw you a small diagram to better illustrate my point:
Supporting proof of above diagram
So it is in this position that you are expected to sit, sleep, or just remain for the duration of the trip.
To begin the journey the video system on the bus was playing a karaoke DVD of Vietnamese songs as an alternative to the radio or CD. The music was a mix of pop and lounge styles with heavy leaning on the lounge versions. But let's just leave it at: the music was horrible. And I consider myself and expert because the speaker was seven inches from my right ear.
The trip itself wasn't so bad. They played a Thai kung-fu movie dubbed into Vietnamese. Let me, at this time, tell you about the Vietnamese dubbing technique. In America the original audio language is removed and and alternative is inserted. In Vietnam they simply talk louder over the the original language. The effect is quite comical when you can't understand either. As an added benefit to the humor of watching the movie, we pulled into a rest stop right at the climax. I am not sure how the movie ended, but I think the good guy won and got the girl. I slept better on this bus then any other, but I wouldn't call it a good nights sleep. Please see my earlier reasons sleep on a sleeper bus is not a regular occurrence.
At about 6am the following morning the bus pulled in Hanoi. The local bus company guy got on and gave his speech about how great his company's hotel was should we be needing accommodations. This speech was a little different because our bus was not stopped at the bus station (as it should have been) or in front of his hotel (like they normally due). But we should not worry because a complementary taxi would take us into downtown Hanoi. In total eight people needed the "complementary" taxi service into town. When the taxi finally did show up there was only room for six people. Guess who were the lucky two. Our nice local bus/hotel company guy now informed us that the taxi would be back in one hour to pick us up. After a couple of questions on our part, it was clear that now unhelpful local bus/hotel guy was not going to get us to where his bus company told us we would be dropped off.
The story does indeed continue from here, but the cost of the next paragraph is an American beer, payable at time of telling.
Quintessential central Vietnam
**Note: This post was written while in Vientaine, Laos getting ready to take an overnight bus South to the city of Pakse. Wonder what this says about our learning curve?**
Our very cool ridesApproaching the first intersection and seeing only 14 seconds left for the green I decided to pedal faster. As a red doesn't really mean stop to most drivers here, the rapid pedaling westerner on a bike was definitely the cause of some swerving and breaking by those around me. We decided that the next intersection the key was going to be taking it nice and slow, just the like other Vietnamese on bikes were doing. Once we got that down, it was a pretty nice ride out to the pagoda. Each site has a scooter/bike attendant who will guard your bike while you see the monument of choice.
Feeling very brave after pulling this off, we decided to ride over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Not such a popular site. After sitting on the front steps for 20 minutes we were ready to give up, but lucked out when a gentleman came around and asked us if we'd like to look inside the church. Rounded out the day with a trip to Vietnam Airlines to purchase tickets into Vientaine, Laos (as we learned a while back, though they have a website with tickets "for sale", all actual purchases originate from an office and can only be bought by a person).
During our travels we saw several Hahn Cafe sleeper buses at various points. They all looked new, clean, and much better than whatever we were on. So in Hoi An we booked our next two bus journeys with them. The ride from Hoi An to Hue was a mere four hours, and was traveled with out incident. However, the bus was not a Hahn Cafe bus as we were used to seeing them. We thought this might be due to the fact we were on a day trip bus not a sleeper bus. It was only after the bus scheduled to go from Hue to Hanoi showed up did we realize we might have booked with a fake "Hahn Cafe".
Our bus from Hue to Hanoi arrived right on time (at 6pm of the quoted 5:30 to 6pm range). We hoisted ourselves on to the bus and into our sleeper bunks. These bunks are a great idea for someone of average Vietnamese stature, and probably serves 90% of the population beautifully. However, neither Eliza or I fit into the 90% window. In which case the beds serve as somewhat of a torture device. The bunks are too short to lie down flat and too reclined to sit properly. Let me draw you a small diagram to better illustrate my point:
Supporting proof of above diagramSo it is in this position that you are expected to sit, sleep, or just remain for the duration of the trip.
To begin the journey the video system on the bus was playing a karaoke DVD of Vietnamese songs as an alternative to the radio or CD. The music was a mix of pop and lounge styles with heavy leaning on the lounge versions. But let's just leave it at: the music was horrible. And I consider myself and expert because the speaker was seven inches from my right ear.
The trip itself wasn't so bad. They played a Thai kung-fu movie dubbed into Vietnamese. Let me, at this time, tell you about the Vietnamese dubbing technique. In America the original audio language is removed and and alternative is inserted. In Vietnam they simply talk louder over the the original language. The effect is quite comical when you can't understand either. As an added benefit to the humor of watching the movie, we pulled into a rest stop right at the climax. I am not sure how the movie ended, but I think the good guy won and got the girl. I slept better on this bus then any other, but I wouldn't call it a good nights sleep. Please see my earlier reasons sleep on a sleeper bus is not a regular occurrence.
At about 6am the following morning the bus pulled in Hanoi. The local bus company guy got on and gave his speech about how great his company's hotel was should we be needing accommodations. This speech was a little different because our bus was not stopped at the bus station (as it should have been) or in front of his hotel (like they normally due). But we should not worry because a complementary taxi would take us into downtown Hanoi. In total eight people needed the "complementary" taxi service into town. When the taxi finally did show up there was only room for six people. Guess who were the lucky two. Our nice local bus/hotel company guy now informed us that the taxi would be back in one hour to pick us up. After a couple of questions on our part, it was clear that now unhelpful local bus/hotel guy was not going to get us to where his bus company told us we would be dropped off.
The story does indeed continue from here, but the cost of the next paragraph is an American beer, payable at time of telling.
Quintessential central Vietnam**Note: This post was written while in Vientaine, Laos getting ready to take an overnight bus South to the city of Pakse. Wonder what this says about our learning curve?**
3 comments:
hey finally got some bicycling in, hope your getting enough exercise
Glad you guys beat the crowds to the ruins - sounds like it was a madhouse. And using the horn to express happiness at hearing a song you like - brilliant! I'll definitely have to try that in Seattle and let you know how it goes.
Your bus seat illustration is very informative and appreciated, especially accompanied by the photograph. It will be culture shock to get back to the states and find folks over 5'3" tall.
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