So, Why's the Bus Cheaper, Again?

We traveled 14 hours from Hanoi to Hue last night in a clean, new sleeper bus. Three travel agents suggested the bus--cheaper and faster than the train. We visited the train station and confirmed that it was about 40% more expensive and two hours longer. It was the bus for us.

We asked the hostel guy why the bus was cheaper. He speculated on government inefficiency in the train system. We learned otherwise.

For starters, the shuttle from the hotel to the bus wasted an annoying hour--we could have walked or rode motorcycles easier. The big bus, when we finally arrived there, was new and fresh with three rows of double-decker bunks. They slanted so your feet slipped under someone else's head. Not a bad arrangement unless you're in the back row like Jim. Those beds were slanted more severely, shorter, and Jim was canned from the mid-thighs down.

They said the bus stopped once . It actually stopped five or six times to pick up passengers and cargo or visit truck stops. Around 3:00 a.m., it picked up five fellows who slept in the aisles.

The roads themselves added an element of adventure. Highway travel here is one continuous game of chicken. The road is marked for two lanes but a de facto third lane lies between where traffic passes head-to-head with opposing passing traffic. Several times, our driver lost the chicken game, resulting in quick brakes and dislodged luggage. Also, many miles of the roads are pocked, so the ride is like hours in a turbulent airplane.

Worse for Bonnie was the noise. Asians seem to have a penchant for loud music videos when they travel, mostly pop junk. Our bus played the same DVD repeatedly--a handful of songs in a show called "Paris by Night in Korea" which featured Vietnamese pop crooners performing for a Korean crowd. (I'm not sure where Paris fits in.) Bonnie's head lay not two feet from a speaker, so she got the brunt of it. And it was loud. She plugged her ears and tried to sleep but couldn't stop herself from mentally notating the music, as if she were transcribing in her sleep.

The music stopped at 11:00 p.m. but the dutiful driver started it again at 6:30 a.m. During short lulls, a neighbor kindly filled the gap with French tunes from his cell phone.

The journey was fun, however. There were three other foreign couples--blonde, quiet, germanic folk; bothered Brits; and a sexy, young French couple who periodically climbed into one another's bunks. Those French do have a way about them.