Having just endured a night bus trip back to Saigon from Dalat, where I probably managed about 2 hours shut eye, my trip Friday gone doesnt seem too bad afterall. I shall leave it for you to decide :)
It all started at 8am, bright and early to miss the rush hour traffic (supposedly!). THe bus itself was a little cramped to stay the least, and got more and more packed as we ventured through the backpacker district picking more and more stragglers up along the way. By 9am it was a squeeze, well for me at least who seems to only find height a problem when it comes to Vietnamese buses!
3 hours later we were still going and had escaped the hussle and bussle of HCM - I also met a nice couple on board (Kenny and Angie) from Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, which helped time pass a bit. I am also thankful for my ipod as ever!!
As we headed north the scenery became more and more lush, with every horizon becoming further and a beautiful blue sky. I can safetly say it was the first time I'd seen nice blue sky for a week - Saigon is v polluted so smoggy most the time :(
As the bus climbed further through the the lush countryside, the temparature also dropped to a pleasant mid 20s, all was grand in the world, aside frm being trapped on a bus like a sardine of course!!
After 7 hours i was starting to get twitchy...the queue of traffic signalled something was not right, and as it turned out there was a truck that had lost control and had ended up upside down and backwards just off the road. This meant our 7hr trip turned into a 10 hr trip :(
However on the upside I got to see lots of countryside and observe the locals going about their lives. Coffee is big business up here, so 90% of houses had coffee beans spread out infront of their houses to dry before roasting - they certainly work hard at maintaining what little harvest they have!
Upon arival, they conveniently stopped at a local hotel and started to pile all our stuff out on the street! Apparently a good little add on to the coach drivers wages to get as many bleary eyed backpackers in the 'dream hotel'! This annoyed me somewhat as meant a nice walk up the street to the one i'd booked, but luckily Angie and kenny had booked the same one so we took 3 motobike taxis the short distance to Thien An Guesthouse, complete with backpacks, side packs, skirts and flip flops!
