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.