Bus ride from hell!

We tried to take the train...we really did! But because of the Tet holiday, the train was fully booked. So we had to take the bus, there was no choice unless we wanted to stay in Hoi An for a week, which we didn't. So we bought our bus tickets. The ride was from 6pm to 6am!! Dreadful!

We boarded the bus and drove around Hoi An picking up other folks at various hotels. A sreaming baby got on behind us, luckily the baby was escorted onto a different bus shortly thereafter, our luck would end there.

Driving in Vietnam is tough. There are so many mopeds and motorbikes that they take up both sides of the road, which forces any vehicles to drive in the middle, which makes it interesting when on-coming traffic arrives. Horns are constanly blaring and busses like ours are constantly dodging tiny motorbikes that weave in and out of traffic. Shortly after our journey began we tried to settle in, get comfortable, and sleep a bit. However, our bus driver and general traffic had other plans for us. Our driver was constanly blaring the horn and dodging motorbikes. At one point a bike veered right in front of our bus forcing us to swerve violently off the road onto the dirt shoulder narrowly missing the motorbike and continuing on our way. About an hour later we witnessed a bus that probably had a similar incident, but a tragically different result. The bus we slowly drove past was on its side in the ditch and the motorbike it tried to avoid was crushed, the motorbike driver laying in the road probably did not survive. I didn't sleep a wink after that.

Soon we stopped for a pitstop to get some dinner and change drivers. We grabbed a hot sandwich and were back on the road in 30 minutes. While at the pitstop, the drivers had set up a hammock for Driver #1 to sleep in while Driver #2 took over the wheel. The hammock stretched from the front seat to the bus door, right in front of the windshield. Driver #1 apparently has sleep apnea and snores like a champion! The entire bus was giggling at first, then realized that it wasn't going to stop. Every 30 seconds or so he would gasp for air and snort out a few short breaths. At least he was getting some rest...unlike CJ and me!

The horn blaring and motorbike dodging continued into the wee hours of the night and I watched all of it from my aisle seat. We stopped a couple more times for the restroom and then continued on. The drivers swapped spots a couple times and the snoring continued. Finally around 5am we could see the light of Nha Trang. We apparently were going to be early, which was fine by me! Before we crossed the bridge into Nha Trang, the driver pulled the bus over and parked in a lot overlooking the water. He got up and both drivers went to sleep. Apparently we were too early!! We sat in the parking lot for 45 minutes looking across the water at Nha Trang, our final destination, and watching the sunrise, which was pretty nice I must admit. Around 6am, the drivers woke up and we drover our last 30 minutes into town.

CJ and I jumped off the bus, grabbed our packs and went off to find a hotel to finally get some sleep!!