Travel Day

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The night we come back from Tam Coc is a travel day. I hate travel days. 12 hour bus rides, lines at train stations, waiting for boarding calls, and all the taxi rides in-between. There is something about transportation that leaves a greasy film on my skin. It never goes away no matter how many times I try to wash my face and hands at the terminals. It's formed by all the stale recycled air, the smell of fast food, and rubbing shoulders with hundreds of other travellers. But today is a very special travel day. We don't even have the luxury of curling up in a seat that's one size too small and hearing the continous chatter of foreign languages. Today we try a new option. Our only option.

As usual, our timing is terrible. May Day is upon us (the rest of the world's equivalent to Labor Day), and it has tied up all the planes, trains, and buses in Hanoi for the entire week. Ryan suggested we rent a car, complete suicide from what we've seen of the traffic here, not to mention we can't read the Vietnamese road signs. Asking at the front desk we were
presented with only one possibility; hire a car and driver for the 10-hour ride to Hue. Actually it will be 2 drivers, so that they can switch off and drive through the night. The benefit was that we could sleep through the car ride and gain a day of exploring the city, no hassle and no time wasted. The problem was the price. $300 for the four of us. Seeing as it was this or stall out in Hanoi for another week, we all cringed as we gave our approval.

The same day we had arranged, our savior walked thorough the door in the form of a backpacking New Zealander. Christen had been walking from tourist agency to tourist acency, looking for some way to get himself and his English friend Jaime out of Hanoi. He had already been in line at the train station, and had discovered that there were no more planes and bus tickets available at the last hotel he had visited. He just so happened to walk through our doors, and was informed by our ever-smiling manager that there was a hired car leaving the next day. With all introductions and arrangements made, we now
had a car for 6 people, bringing the price of our seats down by another $25 each. Good deal. We all would meet at 9 p.m. the next night, after our return from Tam Coc and a final dinner in Hanoi.

It all sounded very promising despite how long the drive is to Hue, and with the ability to stop whenever we wished, it sounded even better than a bus which only stops at pre-determined tourist traps. It should be faster too. We can shave a couple of hours off and arrive in the city bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a full day.

Despite all assurances that there would be "plenty of room", when we jam ourselves into the car at 9 p.m. it is a very tight fit. I really had no idea if all 6 backpacks had made it on board. The 3 guys in the middle seat were shoulder to shoulder, and I was squished in with the 2 women in back. Still, it was good company and we chatted away with the excitement of having made it out of Hanoi. Our new travelling partners were very entertaining. Christen was on a solo trip for a year, and had met Jaime somewhere in Thailand, who had a few months to explore what he could of Southeast Asia. They had hit it off and had been travelling together ever since. The comedic duo was here to party, and through their thick accents they talked of booze cruises and wild night at pubs. Jaime explained how the football finals worked, and the two debated on the proper pronunciation of the word "papadam" ("Well, there's no bloody m before the p, is there?"). It wasn't long before we were out of traffic, Suz and Ryan were asleep, and the Ipods were out to hypnotize the rest of us.

A word about the Nissim-Sabat family: they can sleep though anything. It is a well documented fact that the whole family is afflicted with what has been termed "carcolepsy". In any ride we have take on this trip, Ryan is out within seconds and Suz within minutes, sometimes sleeping through rest-stops or even near head-on collisions. I myself suffer from the opposite, and while I may "zone-out" for awhile, I never truly sleep while travelling. Especially when the driver is a maniac.

Once on the highway, it was clear that our driver belonged on the track in Indianapolis. We were flying by trucks and buses, zooming in an out of oncoming traffic, and actually catching air over the inclines of bridges. I considered saying something to our driver, but his partner seemd unconcerned, and he was sitting in the front seat. Tracy had managed to fall asleep at this point, but the Brit, the Kiwi, and myself were mesmerized by this roller-coaster we had bought a ticket for. Occasionally Christen would glance back at me and just shake his head. Jaime would just be repeating "Jesus" under his breath. I don't know if he was praying or reacting to all the near misses.

After a couple of hours, I had put my sunglases on to try and block out the insanity, and turned up the Ipod to provide fruther distraction. We were off the highway now. We hadn't slowed down at all, just off the highway. I rolled up Suzie's jacket to prop under my head and make an attempt at sleep. Christen had stretched his feet in-between the driver and his head was on Jaime's shoulder. Jaime was still staring face front, but his head bobbed back
and forth like a sleepy baby's. We were used to it now, and our need for sleep was overpowering our fear. Maybe if I just shut my eyes....

At that moment we made a sharp turn to the left and found ourselves flooded in the light of FOUR large headlamps. "OH, SHIT!" yelled Jaime as the car swerved off the road and slid over gravel to narrowly miss a tree. The two trucks rolled past, our driver furiously complaining with the horn. He struggled to get us back on the road and looked at his partner, who just giggled nervously. "Did you see that?!" exclaimed Christen, now sitting fully upright in his seat. "Bloody hell!"

We pulled over shortly after to fill up on gas and hit the bathroom. Jaime, Christan, and I relived the moment over and over, and then once more for Tracy and Suzanne who had slept through the whole thing. Ryan suprisingly woke up while we were swerving off the road. Tracy and Suz yawned, casually saying "Oh really?" "What time is it?"

"We almost died man!" said Christen.
"Man, I have to pee," said Suz, "Where's the toilet?"

As Christen stood with his mouth open in amazement , Suz took off looking for the toilet. The drivers pointed her in one direction, where she walked past a concrete wall with an "m" spray painted on the side. After walking past it, the drivers yell to her that's she's missed it. Suz is thinking, "I'm definetely missing something, it can't be behind this wall." She walked behind the wall, only to find another open concrete room in complete darkness. Really confused, she heads back to the group.

"I can't find the toilet, the drivers told me to go behind the concrete, but there's nothing there. Tracy, come with me."

I realize I have to pee as well, so I head off to see what's going on. Sure enough, I walk around the wall to find an open stretch of pavement surrounded by more concrete wall. Oh well. Passing Suz and Tracy on my way back, they ask about it. I tell them, yeah, go behind the concrete wall.

They talk about it as they head over there, and while the rest of us chatted with the drivers, we hear a sound like a hose running, and glance over at the concrete structure. We resumed talking while the hose continued running for at least 5 minutes. The women finally emerged, shaking off their feet and stretching their knees. Piling back into the car Suz whispered to me:

"That was the oddest toilet ever."
"I know." I said, "I don't even think there was a drain."
"NO, just concrete!" she exclaimed. "My shoes are all wet."

Our other driver was the exact opposite of the first, and he was so slow that trucks were passing us. He shifted and braked like it was his first time driving, and after a while I was longing for the madness of the first few hours. Anything to feel like we were getting somewhere. I guess I felt safter, but the jerkiness of his driving was still preventing me from sleeping. Not to mention the tight corner I was jammed into was taking a toll on my legs. Being rolled up in a ball with my knees locked in one position for hours had me feeling anxious and clausterphobic. I leaned from side to side to get the blood flowing to my butt every 15 minutes or so, and stared longlingly at every gas station and 24 hour coffee shop in the hopes that we would pull over so that I could stretch out. Everyone else looked content, especially Ryan and Suz, who had fallen asleep as soon as they had sat down in the car.

And so this went on and on for 10 hours, sprinting and crawling our way to the city of Hue, stopping only for gas and to check the score of the Manchester United game which was being watched by every gas station owner across the highways of Vietnam. Light eventually poked it's head over the horizon, and revealed vast rice patties whose farmers were already awake and tending to their crop. Businesses appeared soon after, and before we knew it we were driving past the Citadel walls of the great palace in the center of town. We stopped in front of "The Sports Hotel", unloaded our bags, bid good luck to Christen and Jaime, and tipped our driver who had the questionable task of heading back to Hanoi that same day. Once we ate breakfast and were situated in our rooms, everyone was excited and ready to explore the city. With my legs stretched out on the bed feeling drowsy for the first time in 30 hours, I said "Sorry guys, but I think I'll sit this one out for awhile." I hate travel days.

Sorry, not enough photos of the late night car ride. Here's some random pics.

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Photos

Tracy
A very flattering picture

Waiting Patiently
Sort of....

The Back Seat
Suz never wakes up

Suzie at the Nurse's
Not really, it's a nurse themed bar

Ryan and Tracy
A.K.A. Ro-Ro and T-Duc

Comments

[mompat]

Yikes!
I'm laughing but scared shitless at the possibilities at the same time. Maybe you need to rethink that "hiring a driver" prospect in the future.