An Update
I have decided that it may be of great value to begin each post with an update. In the year and a half of this website’s life the posts have become more laborious to produce. I think you can go back to my first posts and see a noticeable change in many characteristics of their production. Paragraph length, proofreading, picture usage and quality of layout. The page is optimized for SEO, which takes an additional hour in itself before publication. The addition of videos, no matter how primitive or simple in production quality, all require additional time.
It has evolved into a process that now requires 6 to 8 hours to complete depending on the extensiveness of any research that may be required. Most people know how much I love research. That is not a sarcastic statement. That being said, we are currently in Saigon, and have been for almost a week. Though the borders are still closed and very few special circumstance flights are allowed in or out, domestically Vietnam has lifted all but a few restrictions. There hasn’t been a new community transmission of Covid-19 in Vietnam in almost 30 days. Though numbers have gone up slightly due to repatriation of Vietnamese nationals who go straight into treatment.
Ready To Go
The Prime Minister has ordered the economy reopened and domestically the country looks very close to what it did pre pandemic. Only no tourist except for those of us who stayed and rode out the pandemic. I have most attractions to myself, beaches, ruins and historical sights. It’s kind of nice. We have seen some amazing things and there is much to write about. I assure you the chronicles of our journeys are coming as fast as I can produce them. We are often on the move from early morning until long after dark. It’s tough to find time to write it down.
I’ve begun toting my voice recorder around to log ideas in hopes of keeping my thoughts from dissipating as it is often days before I can sit down and put thought to the computer. I am working very hard to bring it all to life to my most diehard of readers. I know I have at least a few. This will be the first post written off of notes and days of contemplation. After proofreading it several times I think it shows. A more calculated approach to writing that I hope makes it more interesting and a little humorous to boot. And so without further delay I give you “20 Hours to Saigon”.
20 Hours to Saigon
The Decision
We were having a degree of difficulty in doing anything in central Vietnam. An unnecessary boredom was overcoming us. Sunny Farm was enjoyable, but we were ready for the road. A cave to spelunker, ruins to aw about, a mega city to explore perhaps. I had heard that things were better in the south. Diem and I had a brief discussion and looked at each other. We simultaneously agreed. We were leaving for Saigon and we were leaving now.
Originally planning to travel to Saigon exactly as one might expect. Go to Da Nang airport and hop a two hour flight south to Saigon. Or maybe even on a cross country train. In a sleeper car. Hugging the coast with mountains to the west. Eating bowls of delicious noodles and sipping cocktails. It was not to be.
Our Reality
We headed out of the apartment west, across Da Nang and towards a bus agency. I was having a bit of difficulty traveling these days as the immigration office has my passport. The immigration office is processing it for a spousal Visa exemption. When it is returned to me I will have the wondrous luxury of coming and going in Vietnam without the hassle of a Visa or restrictions for the next five years. It will be fantastic, but it takes 12 days to process and I am without my passport for the duration.
So here we are, heading across Da Nang, to get on a sleeper bus. To participate in a 20 plus hour ride the incredibly short distance of under 600 miles. It really is mind boggling sometimes how slow transportation is in Vietnam. Why a local sleeper bus you ask? Great question. it’s the only form of transportation that doesn’t require a passport to ride. In addition, they don’t ask questions, and you shouldn’t either. Traveling is far more fun, hell life is more fun if you take it with a grain of salt and a series of spontaneous decisions.
Buses Apparently Aren’t Always Buses
We arrived at the bus agency and began to purchase our tickets. Diem was not happy with the bus. She informed me that it was fake. An imitation bus of sorts. I was having trouble grasping this concept as it looked like a bus, it moved like a bus, people even got off of it like a bus. But I’m not one to argue with my wife in her home country. So I agreeably loaded back into the taxi and we went for coffee.
I ordered my coffee by the pictures posted on the menu and as always got something I wasn’t expecting. Not in an unpleasant way like when you get a jury summons in the mail. But that unexpected something you, say, find in your bowl of noodles that’s surprising and unrecognizable, yet enjoyable. I ordered this refreshing looking frozen coffee beverage with cool sweet whipped cream piled on top. It came as advertised and looked exactly like the picture. I took a sip, delicious, this will be great on this insanely hot day. (First heat wave of the year)
A Coffee Surprise
As I continued to sip my frozen caffeinated concoction something unusual popped out of the straw. I began to chew. Is that, that’s, jello”, I thought as I reached for a spoon. Sure enough as I dug around in the drink I discovered huge chunks of gelatinized coffee. It was surprisingly wonderful. Cool, almost frozen chunks of refreshing, delicious coffee jello. Huh, who would have thought.
While we enjoyed our coffee Diem found a real bus to take us to Saigon and we called the Taxi. In Vietnam if you have things to do and more than one stop, your taxi driver will not leave you until you are done. They will wait around the corner, not charge you for wait time and always be right there when you need them. Competition is so fierce for fares here that the first conversation when you get in involves your plans for the rest of the day and can the driver offer his services throughout the duration.
The Bus Depot
It was only a 5 minute trip to the bus depot and we bid farewell to the taxi driver and retrieved our luggage. The terminal was fairly empty and we purchased two tickets for the 4 o’clock to Saigon. The lady who sold us the tickets sat in a room filled with snacks and trinkets for purchase. There is no meal or beverage service so Diem and I purchased a few items for the road.
Just before 4 we loaded onto the bus for a 4 o’clock departure time. Which really means whenever the driver is ready. Timetables and schedules are not exactly adhered to here as our trip time was listed as between 20 and 24 hours. We had to remove our shoes before entering the bus and a grocery bag was offered to store them.
The Bus
The bus contained three rows, double stacked, of beds. 20 plus hours on a bus didn’t seem so bad with a bed. With the lack of meal service, no entertainment, no WiFi, no bathroom, a slow and arduous trek across the country and no electrical ports for charging our devices, it was still far superior to flying in the same time frame for two reasons. Air conditioning that worked very well and your seat is a bed.
The Journey Begins
I settled into my bed seat, with Diem tucked in behind me. The beds were slightly angled so that your feet slid into an area under the person in front of you. It was an interesting way to conserve space and it gave the overall feel of laying in a Lay-Z-boy. As the bus pulled out I laid back and enjoyed the view. As always seems to be the case in Vietnam, there was lots of stopping, lots of picking up and dropping off. No wonder it took so long. Shortly after we left the station the sun began to set.
After Dark
We had been on the bus for what seemed like hours. I looked at my phone, it wasn’t even six. Vietnam has this way of a very early setting sun which makes 7 in the evening feel like midnight. Just after 8 we stopped at what I would call a Vietnamese version of a truck stop. Bathrooms, fueling station and a cafeteria. A basket of plastic slippers and a nice little floor mat was placed outside the door of the bus. Apparently buses here even come with slipper service. I can’t be sure if this is a standard thing as I was the only westerner on the bus or at any of the stops along the way. Slipper service may just be a local kind of thing.
A Quick Bite to Eat
We took a bathroom break and ordered a plate of food. It was a Vietnamese meat and three and I ordered pork, rice, braised daikon, what appeared to be a simmered heart of palm and a soup with ground chicken and greens. It was actually very tasty and flavorful. I devoured my dinner in expectation of sleeping it off shortly. We boarded again after about 20 minutes and off we went further into the dark night.
A Restless Night
I was awakened at some point before Eleven to the unsettling feeling of zero g’s. Our driver’s pace had quickened in the darkness and he was taking turns down the empty highway at what felt like break neck speed. A small arm rest seemed to be the only thing keeping me from laying on the floor 2 inches below. As I looked around the bus all the lights were off. Occasionally another bus or truck would go by and bath the interior in momentary light. Beyond that it was darkness.
Out here, in between major cities, the roads were not that comfortable. The road often felt rough and unkempt and at times I thought my teeth would rattle out of their sockets. It was like the road was covered with those strips leading to stop signs in the countryside. Only they were more like gashes on the earth than annoying noise makers.
The view from the other side of the bus was often bays and harbors dotted with boats and reflections in the night. On my side only darkness and the occasional inky silhouette of a shadowy mountain. I knew in my mind which side of the bus will have the best views. I know it’s orientation as it heads south. Why don’t I think of these things as I’m boarding? I rolled over and fell back to sleep.
An Unusual Stop
We stopped about a half hour to midnight. I looked out the window to see only the shoulder and a short distance of brush that disappeared quickly into the darkness of the jungle. Nothing else, no buildings, other vehicles or even people save for those on our transport. Why were we stopped? Diem slightly shook me and asked if I must use the restroom. This was our bathroom break. Some barely walked away from the bus, while others disappeared into the brush. Fortunately I was not in need of relieving myself and rolled over to get comfortable again.
I would wake every couple of hours through the night from random happenings. A giant pothole, a sudden engaging stop from lord knows what ahead of the bus, a turn taken at just such a speed and angle to cause the inner ear to freak out. I would check our whereabouts and try to get back to sleep. I find that if you can, sleep is the best way to pass these times away. We had reached Nha Trang by 2:30 am and were well on our way.
Sunrise
I woke for the last time around 6:30 am to the morning sounds of our avian passengers in the back row. And to the heat induced by the sun as it shone through the window. Yes, we had at least 4 caged songbirds on board, I guess it’s better than a flock of chickens. It was very much daylight, had been for some time and we had already turned west and were on our last stretch toward Saigon. Around 7 we stopped at a roadside eatery called Quynh Gia that specialized in Bun Bo Hue. A delicious soup of beef broth, strips of steak, vermicelli noodles and the small garden that comes with everything here.
Breakfast Like No Other
I used the facilities and we sat down for breakfast. It was an impressive operation. Every bus that came by stopped and you knew this was the only purpose. It was a very big place and not in a very big place if you get me. The facilities had places to brush your teeth and freshen up. Though a bit rustic, more like a roadside campground that served food, it served its purpose. The hearth was made of earth and a very large pot was built into the top.
Wood for fuel and a kitchen system that kept the pot of broth always going. You could sense that this was probably very close to a 24 hour operation if not fully. The cooked noodles and beef were kept separate, placed in the bowls first and then ladled with a delicious, rich and very clean beef bone broth. I loaded mine up with chili, fish sauce, plenty of herbs and greens and chowed down. It was one of the best bowls of soup I have ever had. On the side of the road and in the middle of nowhere. I know why every bus stopped here. After an uncomfortable night bouncing through the countryside you couldn’t make a passenger any happier.
The Final Stretch
We offloaded our plastic slippers and boarded the bus. Other than a few stops to offload a passenger or two and drop off a parcel, it was a relatively uninterrupted trip into Saigon. As we came ever closer to the Mega City in the jungle the signs became clear. River banks filled with countless shipping containers waiting to be sent down river and out to sea. High rises that slowly filled the landscape. Something far bigger and more aggressive than anything I had yet experienced in Southeast Asia was looming in the distance.
We pulled into the bus station around 9:30 am. A clear three and a half to six and a half hours ahead of schedule. I thought of how my ticket clearly expressed a 20 to 24 hour experience of peeing on the side of the road late at night and defecating in the mosquito ridden jungle, but I decided it wasn’t worth complaining and accepted our early arrival with more of a relieved thank you than any consternation.
Arriving In Saigon
Stepping off of the bus in Saigon was the sight and experience I had always expected Southeast Asia to be, but as of yet had not found. Da Nang was a relatively well kept beach side resort town. A wonderful cool breeze penetrated it’s streets no matter how much the sun bore down and an overall beautiful city. Hanoi was the mountain forest metropolis. Home of the government seat, it was manicured, beautiful and comfortable in that way that only a mountain city can be. Most of Vietnam I had visited had this surprising way of being more comfortable and pleasing to the eye than one would expect from decades of unflattering documentaries and exposes.
Some Observations
Saigon was none of these. At least not from the initial impression at the bus stop. It was unbearably hot, already in the upper 90’s at 9:30, and humid beyond belief. It was congested, crowded, polluted and filthy. In short, it was wonderful. It was everything National Geographic had shown me an impoverished Southeast Asia was supposed to look like, but I would soon find that it wasn’t this either. Yes one may find these pockets of age old stereotypical mid to late 20th century Asia, but I was learning quickly that this was only a very small part of the reality in Southeast Asia.
I found Thailand to be modern, beautiful and relatively clean. Vietnam was proving to be ancient and feudal in many ways, yet more modern and more advanced than many cities in the US. It is a very interesting scenario I will expand on later. But now it’s time to settle in, eat a lot, get some decent rest, and plot our discovery of Saigon, the city with two names.
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