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Hating the Local Laos Bus, Loving Vietnam!

VIETNAM | Monday, 13 April 2009 | Views [1094] | Comments [2]

I am blown away with how in love I am with Vietnam. First things first - My mum is out of town and I can't e-mail her - so, mum, I'm doing fine, I spent Easter enjoying my first full day in Vietnam - and actually forgot it was Easter to begin with - no sign of it here. I felt sad a few days ago thinking of spring and chics and chocolate, but we've been on such an adventure lately there isn't too much time to think of home. Thanks for your e-mail, it made me really happy =)

So a few days ago, Dave, Sean, Jessica, Johan, and I made our 2 day trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. We started from the south of Loas and we knew we were in for a hell of a trip. I will try not to make this long, basically, we got ripped off, with no other choice and the first part of our trip was a trip from HELL. We started with a 15 minute boat ride to the mainland - usually these boats are sheltered but ours had no roof - so sunburn and heat stroke city. Then we took a 2 hour crowded and hot mini bus ride to Pakse to catch a 15 hour bus ride to Hue Vietnam. We got to the bus station around 1:30 and then were told the next bus wasn't until 6:30, THANKS. This is also where we discovered that our bus was in fact a 15 hour LOCAL bus and not a VIP. I havn't written about local busses yet because they are too crappy to mention. A 2-4 hour local bus is sort of fun - You really get to take in and observe local life. Any more than 4 hours becomes painfully tedious. Many of the local people use the local bus as a main means for transporting goods. - SO about every 5-10 minutes the bus stops and unloads bags of rice and other things for a few minutes - this becomes so borring and so hot. We ended up calling the guy that booked our trip to complain but obviously there was nothing we coulkd do. He just yelled at us and told us he told us it was a local bus, but he never did - He told us it was 'very nice bus, no stops, fans'. So we killed our 4 hours in Pakse getting lunch and milling about and eventually made our way back to the bus stop. Our bus was *the shittiest* bus I've ever seen. It was so old and had about 3-4 layers of rice sacks stacked on the roof. We could tell this was common as the bus looked like it was cracking and bending in half after yewars of this kind of abuse. When we boarded the bus we were *delighted* to see that all of the footspace under the seats were crammed with clay-filled metal pots. We were outraged and just started stacking them in the isle so that we could take a seat. The bus stank of urine and poison and us 5 were the only ones that got decent seats, some backpackers were forced to sit in the back on top of rice sacks. One the bus started to drive it gurgled and clanked and I was sure it would break down (but it never did). Because the bus was so dangerously full the bus driver HONKED like there was no tomorrow. If something got in our way, we'd eaitehr smash it to pieces, or swerve out of the way where we'd likey all get mashed to death with rice sacks and clay pots. Needless to say this was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. Here are a few more highlights:

-we stopped at least 15 times in the first 2-3 hours of the trip, stopping about 10 minute each with NO fan in the stinking heat of the night

- there were two ladies transporting HUGE dead snakes. They held the snakes in plastic bags and made frequent stops to drop a snake off here and there. The snakes were ROTTING and it was an incredibly foul smell. Dave lit a cigarette on the bus and listen to this: Instead of yelling at him to put it out I *tired* to inhale the smoke, because THE SMELL OF SMOKE was more refreshing and appealing than the smell of rotting dead snakes.

- There were plenty of stops to drop of snakes and sacks, but NO rest stops, no eating, no peeing for almost 20 hours

- We got to the Vietnam border at 3:30 in the morning and had to sleep in the bus until the border opend at 6:30 am. Dave ended up walking around a couple hours and I finally got to lay out on the bench and get a few hours solid sleep.

-I got flea/bug bites all over my ankles from the bus

-when the border opened the boys took our passports to go get stamped, Jessica and I tried to get more sleep, our nasty bus driver came running at us screaming "YOU YOU YOU!" trying to tell us to go get stamped, we managed to tell him the boys took our passports.

-After the border we Continued to drive to Hue. We were supossed to arrive at 10:30am but didn't until 12:30pm because the damn bus stopped to unload ALL of the clay effing pots

-eventually we got to Hue and they decided to just dump the white people on the side of the road, yelling "YOU YOU YOU!" and poitning at the door. We had no idea whewre we were! so we all kept asking and yelling "Bus Station, take us to the bus station." The kept ignoring and yelling at us, so Jessica looked the Bus driver in the eye and screamed "YOU YOU YOU!" back at him. The look in his eyes were pure hatred, and we knew we couldn't try anymore. We all got off the bus - some of the locals PUSHING us off, and the bus spead away.

After this ordeal though we realized we were in Vietnam now, and the place was already amazing. Luckily we were in the center of Hue so we decided to go to a restaurant to cool of and figure out or plans. We had a delicious lunch and ended up being able to book a VIP SLEEPER BUS to Hanoi for 5:30pm that evening. The 5 of us pitched in and were able to rent out a beautiful hotel room for a few hours. We all showered and cleaned up and drank some beers. I was even able to sneak off after my shower for half an hour and get my eyebrows and nails done (Oh my gOd, that kind of attention felt so good after that bus ride.) We went for a small dinner at 5 and then caught out next 12 hour bus to Hanoi.

This bus was the EXACT opposite from the bus the night before, AND it was half the price(?!) This bus had 30 individual BEDS, that you could sit up or lay down in, and each bed had a full length window to look thru! So I layed and watched a movie for the first 2 hours, then we stopped at a proper rest stop and I got some yummy noodles then continued on our way. I ended up taking a sleeping pill and slept like a baby in mycomfy bus bed for the whole night.

We arrived in Hanoi at about 6 in the morning. We eventually got a beautiful hotel and spent the day doing a walking tour (we found the route in a book) around the old city of Hanoi. Stopping a few times for the cheapest and best asian food Ive had on this trip.

I cannot even begin to think that originally Dave and I were going to skip Vietnam. I am so, so glad we didn't, we've only been here 2 days and it is my favorite place!! Before I came on this trip I had an idea in my head of what Southeast Asia would be like. -Bangkok was the closest thing to this picture, but the rest of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos were completely different than what I expected (and such an amazing life-changing experience). Vietnam however, is what I dreamed Asia to be! It's so so colourful, meats and fruits and veggies everywhere, traffic, honking, amazing life energy, creepy narrow ally ways. Vietnam reminds me of China Towns, but with no exit! And it is soooo much fun. The major difference Vietnam holds over Cambodia and Laos is that although its chaotic, it *works*. Everything flows and they really seem to know how to effectively live their lives (from what I've seen.) And although there are many foreigners, it doesn't feel like one big tourist trap. The locals cater to the locals. They don't give a shit about us tourists (which feels sooo nice) And even though we are white and very different looking, I just get this comfortable sense of blending in. No ones is grabbing at me trying to sell stuff - though if I want anything, it is still at my fingertips. - Like amazing cheap bus rides. So I am very happy now and am currently trying to decide if I want to spend 3 weeks here like I had planned and then end my trip on the beaches of Thailand, or if I should just stay here the whole month then head home. Will have to decide soon.

P.S. I will upload remaining photos for Laos soon (some really good ones)

And also, I am aware that there is some shit going down in Thailand again. I will do my research and I just want to say to my family don't worry =) Vietnam is safe and if Thailand does seem too turbulant to go back to I will def. stay in Vietnam for the month and then just go back to Bangkok to fly home...

love everyone

Comments

1

Good reading, Landon. Glad you're enjoying Viet Nam. I'm looking forward to pictues. The bus experience is one you won't soon forget by the sounds of it but I suppose that's the way they live over there. I've noticed that David hasn't written a blog in awhile and other than the odd comment on Facebook, I haven't heard anything from him. Looking forward to his blog. I know once you come home, I won't know what is happening over there....lol. But I think that's typically boys. When do you leave there for Canada? Any dates lined up? Enjoy the rest of your time there and take care of yourself.....hi to David....love, Bert xo

Bert Apr 15, 2009 1:00 AM

2

I've further reflected on your friend yelling at the bus driver and what I've read and been told, this is not likely a good idea. It's best to stay calm if possible. I think, in the end, they can make your life far more uncomfortable than anything you can do to them. After all, this is THEIR country. So just a word of caution...be careful.

Bert Apr 16, 2009 2:42 AM