#5 HELL bus

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Oh my god...
FIFTEEN—count them—15 hours of hell!
The bus seemed okay......at first.

Our seats provided ample room and they reclined enough to sleep comfortably. And then hell started...

It was much hotter and extra humid this day—a terrible time on a crowded bus with windows that couldn't open to have the air conditioner stop working.

We really thought the end was near. Our ruddy faces throbbed and sweat poured from every pore. We wrote “help us” and “this is hell bus” on the steam of the window, but humor just added to our delirium.

At the moment when all seemed lost, the driver pulled over and mechanics spent 30-45 minutes fixing the problem.

All SEEMED well...
...until the entertainment started.
The TV up front began playing these karaoke-like DVDs, with cheesy music videos and really bad singing. It was cranked up full blast so all could hear every last horrid note. I could make out familiar tunes like “The Tide is High” and “Stuck on you,” along with hits originally sung by Brian Adams, The Police, Air Supply and Milli Vanilli—even one by Eminem... except they were sung in Burmese by bad karaoke singers.

Thank god the “music” was silenced between 11 pm and 6 am. I was able to sleep......some......inbetween the chimes and bells that played every three hours to wake up passengers for the toilet rest stops. I felt like I was a victim of psychological torture.

Lord, give me the strength...

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