Busses and the meaning of time

Time in Asia is never what you think it is.

When you are told a bus journey is 5 hours, you can expect to arrive sometime between 4-8 hours after having stared the journey. Same goes for trains and boats. The thing is to not stress out. Always expect the bus to be delayed and arrive late. In Laos it was a running joke for us. Everything is in Laos time. When a local said one hour, you knew it could be 3. The whole never stress out thing works perfectly. Instead of getting upset that the bus is 6 hours delayed, take it as an opportunity to see the countryside or to sleep.

A funny thing in Malaysia is that the busses would sometimes arrive earlier then supposed. I don't mean 10-20 mins early, more like 2 hours early. It happend to me when I was heading to the perhentian islands. I was supposed to arrive at 6 in the morning and came at 4am. I was just dropped of at the side of the road in what seem like a deserted town. Slightly unsettling as it was. After some time I managed to get a taxi to the harbour where I had to wait for some time before being able to get the first boat to the islands,

Bus journeys in Asia can be quite horrifying. I have noticed that in each country there is always a different issue. In Malaysia busses are freezing cold. Especially the night busses. The air con is on around 16 degree and the locals are all sporting woolly hats, gloves, winter jackets and fleece blankets. The tourists are always the ones caught out, wearing shorts and t-shirts. After that happened to me once, I have never entered a bus without a blanket, jumper and long trousers.

In northern Thailand there are quite a few mountains with extremely curvy roads. These times I used to be in a minivan. However you will always have someone getting carsick and throwing up all over the place.

Over in Laos, the busses are not well looked after. My second ride in a minivan down the hazardous mountain road, we all started hearing a odd noise coming from the van. The driver stops to check what it is. He sees nothing, so he continues driving and the noise started again. Once again, the driver stopped and checked the wheels. That's when he notices that the bolts on one of the wheels are about to come off. Then he proceeded to refasten the bolts with the van parked in the middle of a curve. Eventually the wheel w all set so we all climbed back in to the van and set off. After about half an hour, the same notice started again and once again it was the bolts. It's time on a different wheel. We did eventually make it to our destination with no wheels falling off and a few hours late.

Talking about delayed busses, that's where Cambodia takes the prize! Going from Sihanoukville to Siem reap, we are told its going to be an 8 hour journey. The first leg of the journey takes us to Phnom Penh, that took 6 hours. Then we are told to swap busses and the next part is only 3 hours. However those 3 hours turned into 7. All in all, that was not an 8 hour bus ride.
On another Cambodian bus ride the buss was packed. Still in an attempt to make more money people get pick up along the way. These people got a small plastic stool and just perched on the aisle in the bus. In the end there was no free space anywhere in that bus.

Vietnam has some interesting busses too. It seems most busses only run at night. However they have sleeper busses. This means 3 rows of bunk beds in the bus. These "beds" are made in Asian sizes, meaning way to small for any westerner. They are narrow and short. I am not the tallest person around, but even I have to lie down with my legs bent in a awkward angle. Sometimes the bus driver decides to pick up hitchhikers. The bus may be full but in Asia there is always space for more. The bus staff will start laying mats on the floor and even add a hammock for someone's disposal.

Another favourite pleasure for the bus drivers in Vietnam is to honk the horn constantly. Every time they see another vehicle the driver honks. This goes throughout the entire night. I am forever grateful for earplugs!

I have many more stories to tell about busses, however those will come in handy another time :)

Bus journeys can get quite scary sometimes, as the busses aren't exactly new, the drivers suicidal and the roads dangerous. However once you are on it, there is nothing you can do, so with the same mentality as with time. Just take it as it comes and regard it all as a newfound experience.

The charm of Vietnam

Here we have some pictures of how I have experienced Vietnam lately. It may not be a perfect country, but it is beautiful and is charming in its own way. From communist propaganda, fishing villages, fog rolling down the mountains to sunrises seen from a sleeper bus window.

Flip flops and tans

Flip flops are interesting footwear. It must be the most common footwear amongst locals and foreigners in Asia.

When in Europe my flip flops used to last me for years. Most probably since they barely get worn for a month per year. Since I started travelling I am already on my 5th pair and will need to buy new ones soon again since my latest pair a getting very worn out already.

In Cambodia I started seeing men walking on the street repairing people's flip flops. Some I guess get very attached to their pairs and will do anything to keep them. As they are such a popular footwear, they can be bought everywhere! There are cheap ones and expensive ones. In every colour, pattern and height imaginable.

Especially in Vietnam and Cambodia I have noticed that with the women's fear of getting a tan, they even wear socks with their flip flops. These women will be covered from head to toe, wearing hats, face masks, gloves, jumpers, trousers and socks in a 35degree heat, just to not get any ray of sun on their pale skin. You will never see them sweat or complain of the heat, and sometime you will find someone wearing a full winter jacket in the middle of the day! I for one don't understand how they don't pass out with heat stroke.

That's another funny thing in Asia. The women's obsession with being white. I have figured it out to be a fashion due to wealth. In Europe everyone wants to be brown because for us it is a symbol of having money. It shows that you have money to go on holidays often. Whereas in Asia it's the other way round. If you are white it shows that you can afford to be indoors away from the sun or that you have a higher paid office job and the less well off people are the ones who have to work outdoors all day and then get a tan.

Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a town just a few hours north of Mui Ne. I arrived here yesterday.

Today I rented a scooters with 3 others from my dorm room and we went for a ride to a waterfall outside of town. The scenery is truly beautiful! However it was slightly scary driving at first as it seems like every person here is suicidal on a scooter! After a while I got the hang of how they drive here and then it's all sorted. The trick is to drive like a local and you will be fine, well most of the time. I just don't drive as fast or suicidal as them. It is pretty amazing just to watch the traffic though. So far I have not seen any incidents, whereas if this was in Europe half I the people would have been in a major crash by now. There are never any traffic jams and the traffic is always rolling on smoothly even with thousands of scooter, cars, trucks and bicycles driving around going left right and straight at the same time.

Mui Ne

I have now spent a few days in Mui Ne. This is a small town by the beach. I have noticed that the main nationality for tourist here is Russian. Most signs and menus are in Russian and many of the local people actually speak Russian! It's quite odd to see Vietnamese people speak Russian as I am not used to this.

The nature here is absolutely amazing! Yesterday I went on a tour to some of the famous sand dunes here. We got to see white and red sand dunes. I would have never thought I would get to see something like that in Vietnam. It felt as if I was somewhere in a desert and not just outside a touristy beach town. Unfortunately the white sand dunes have become another tourist trap, by having several places where you can rent quad bikes. With most people finding it awesome to go quad biking they rent them and drive all over the sand dunes. What should have been beautiful untouched dunes, have become a bike track. Don't get me wrong, I would love to go quad biking, it's just that I feel some places should not be disturbed in that way.

I find the fishing boats here quite interesting. They look like big plastic bowls. I still have not seen them in action yet, but they look like heaps of fun to ride in. I got a few pictures of them here beneath.