Vietnam by Bus
The best way to see Vietnam (OK maybe 2nd best after getting a motor bike ala Top Gear) is by Bus. Various places sell hop-on-hop-off bus tickets, topping out at around $45. The most popular route is to start in Hanoi and head South to, Hue, Hoi An, Mui Ne, Nha Trang, Dalat and end in Hoh Chi Minh City. This can
also be done in reverse, but is less popular.
I booked my ticket at Hanoi Backpackers, and it goes through Hanh Cafe, who HB say are the best of the bunch (or is that, the least worst of the bunch?. My first bus South was a sleeper bus to Hue with Trine from the Ha Long Bay tour. Of course, this is Vietnam, so I wasn’t expecting to a bus like those in South America, but what we did get was quite unusual. The bus had about 12 bunk-style-sleeper-bed-chair-things that are kind of hard to describe. Basically the chair reclines to about 30 degrees, and your feet go into a well under the person’s back rest in front of you. In theory this works, except of course its designed for 4′ Vietnamese girls, not 6′ lanky Westerners (AKA me). For the life of me I could not fit into this bed, even with my knees bent to the side my head was nudging the ceiling.
I spent most of the night shifting about, bashing my shins, and talking to a British couple we met, Dawson and Carol, as Trine fit quite snugly and passed out for most of the trip! At one point I realised there were about 12 locals sleeping on the floor in the isles of the bus. Apparently they pay a small amount directly to the driver so he allows this, its quite common, and many are prepared with mats and blankets of their own. My pillow fell from my bunk a few times as I shifted, and once by the time I looked down it had already been nicked by someone!
Looking out the windows provides some entertainment for a while, but if your worried about the roads, a general tip for SEASIA is DON’T look out, because if you actually pay attention to WTF your driver is doing you may shit wet your pants.
Around 6am, we were woken up by the driver playing some very loud music, because only a few of the speakers worked and they were right above us! We’re pretty sure there were bed bugs on this bus too because we all had bites on our legs from within the foot well.
Despite all this, its still a good, cheap way to get around Vietnam, and there are only 2 sleeper legs (over 10hrs) to put up with. If your tall you might be better off taking the seater bus instead of the sleeper, but it is definitely a unique experience.
