(Un)Magical Mystery Tour

Entry 13:
The ride on the minibus was no different from other experiences we had had in this part of the world in the sense that the locals fail to inform the tourists about what is about to happen. In our case, we were not explained where they were taking us. However, we finally arrived at the large sleeper bus and headed to our "seats." We thought it was very considerate of the bus company to provide plastic bags to cover our packs due to the rainy weather, but more about this later. We quickly made friends with our bedmates as they would accompany us for the next 12 hours. Besides the fact that we were sharing a bad in the back of the bus with three other adults, our bed also happened to be on top of the motor and lacked A/C vents. This combination of factors ensured that our ride would be hot, hot, hot.

One thing that you need to know about tour buses in Vietnam is that they are driven by total maniacs. There is a compulsion to accelerate, break, and honk the extremely loud airhorn with much enthusiasm. Additionally, this shady company we took also picked up Vietnamese passengers along the way who sat on stools in the aisles or strung hammocks from the upper seats. To add to the maddness, it seemed the driver had brought live birds and other mysterious cargo in the luggage compartment, as we could hear chirping from where we were sleeping.

Needless to say, somehow we arrived in Nha Trang in one piece, drenched in sweat, but happy to be off the bus finally. We had never been so pleased to be greeted by sunshine and fresh air as we were that morning. The nightmare was not over, however. As we ripped open the plastic off our luggage, we found the bags to smell of fish. Some of this unfortunate odorous liquid spilled onto our bags and left a stench that needed to be repeatedly cleaned with soap in our hotel shower. But at least we were in a beach town and ready to have some fun in the sun.