You know how sometimes you do your research and you pat yourself on the back when everything works out the way you planned?
You know how sometimes you just get really lucky and you know it? Like you didn't really plan, just followed your gut, and it works out beautifully...
And then you know those other times? The times when you are told to arrive at 4:30 for your bus and then the lady takes you to the side of a highway to wait in the direct sun and then when it comes it takes you to the town 10 min away and everyone else gets off and you're just sitting there hoping you're on the right bus, cause no one speaks English and it takes an hour and a half to actually leave town on a 10 hour overnight bus journey. You know how you're excited to stop for the toilet and then there's no paper and the floor is flooded? And then you make it to your destination at 4:30 am (though it was supposed to be 5:30 when it's actually light out) and everyone made it seem like you could just catch a bus to your final destination...except tourist busses don't actually let off at actual stations here, so you have no idea where you are or how to get that other bus. And then you do your traveling duty, pay too much for a cup of coffee at the only place open just to use their WiFi and toilet and figure out somewhere you think you might be able to catch a bus. You show up there and before you can even ask after a ticket or pay, you're shoved onto a minibus with the other white people - with the only communication being "Mui Ne?" They pick up another white guy somewhere else. They take you to another office on the outskirts of town and open the doors and motion for yuu to get out. You wait in the heat again, finally pay for an actual ticket (you think), wait some more...yay the big bus is here! Oh wait, this is the only time they're going to enforce seat numbers and I'm in the way back "group" seats - great. Ok, 5 hours later, after 22 hours of total travel, you're pulling into "town" - is there a town? Wait, was that my hostel? 20 min later, some lady on the bus starts asking everyone where they're going - upon telling her my hostel, she immediately shouts "UP! YOU UP NOW!" I'm obedient and realizing that probably WAS my hostel 20 min back, so I get my belongings together and hop down, get to the front and they start panicking and flagging down a bus going the opposite direction. I'm hurried off my bus, put on the other- this one is clearly not a tourist bus, and therefore there is not air conditioning. There is no one speaking to me in English. I'm sat in the seat by the door - you know the fold down seat for the "co-pilot?" It is only then that I realize I left my beloved travel pillow on the other bus. BUMMER. Finally I'm let out and tossed my pack for the walk down the path to my hostel. It is hot. There's a sign warning about jellyfish and sandflies. The sandflies have already found me. There are not enough fans. I'm beginning to wonder if Dalat, the cooler mountain town, would have been a better choice. There's no town or what I thought would be within sight or walking distance. No one is swimming in the ocean - I imagine it's because of the warnings about undercurrents and jellyfish - great.
You know those moments? Where nothing seems to be redeeming? Well, if you're nodding, you are most likely indeed a traveler yourself. And if so, then you probably also know that eventually...
You take a shower and cool down and you spray yourself with that repellent you've been lugging around for these very pests. You realize where you are and begin to take in the view sans sandflies. You get a beer and sit on the giant swing on the beach and watch the cows go by (yep!). As you swing in the sunset over the beach, you recall the beautiful moments of the day - the thousands of people you witnessed exercising at sunrise (5am) on the beach in Nha Trang, the nice New Zealander who held your stuff as you climbed into your awkward bus bunk, the beautiful views had from said perch on the bus, the bus employees who did, in the end, make sure you made it to your destination... and just the fact that you're fortunate enough to have had a travel pillow that you will miss!
As I look at the stars from the tent on the beach where I'll sleep tonight - I count myself as so incredibly blessed to be on such an adventure here in Vietnam!
The journey from An Bang to Mui Ne:
You know how sometimes you just get really lucky and you know it? Like you didn't really plan, just followed your gut, and it works out beautifully...
And then you know those other times? The times when you are told to arrive at 4:30 for your bus and then the lady takes you to the side of a highway to wait in the direct sun and then when it comes it takes you to the town 10 min away and everyone else gets off and you're just sitting there hoping you're on the right bus, cause no one speaks English and it takes an hour and a half to actually leave town on a 10 hour overnight bus journey. You know how you're excited to stop for the toilet and then there's no paper and the floor is flooded? And then you make it to your destination at 4:30 am (though it was supposed to be 5:30 when it's actually light out) and everyone made it seem like you could just catch a bus to your final destination...except tourist busses don't actually let off at actual stations here, so you have no idea where you are or how to get that other bus. And then you do your traveling duty, pay too much for a cup of coffee at the only place open just to use their WiFi and toilet and figure out somewhere you think you might be able to catch a bus. You show up there and before you can even ask after a ticket or pay, you're shoved onto a minibus with the other white people - with the only communication being "Mui Ne?" They pick up another white guy somewhere else. They take you to another office on the outskirts of town and open the doors and motion for yuu to get out. You wait in the heat again, finally pay for an actual ticket (you think), wait some more...yay the big bus is here! Oh wait, this is the only time they're going to enforce seat numbers and I'm in the way back "group" seats - great. Ok, 5 hours later, after 22 hours of total travel, you're pulling into "town" - is there a town? Wait, was that my hostel? 20 min later, some lady on the bus starts asking everyone where they're going - upon telling her my hostel, she immediately shouts "UP! YOU UP NOW!" I'm obedient and realizing that probably WAS my hostel 20 min back, so I get my belongings together and hop down, get to the front and they start panicking and flagging down a bus going the opposite direction. I'm hurried off my bus, put on the other- this one is clearly not a tourist bus, and therefore there is not air conditioning. There is no one speaking to me in English. I'm sat in the seat by the door - you know the fold down seat for the "co-pilot?" It is only then that I realize I left my beloved travel pillow on the other bus. BUMMER. Finally I'm let out and tossed my pack for the walk down the path to my hostel. It is hot. There's a sign warning about jellyfish and sandflies. The sandflies have already found me. There are not enough fans. I'm beginning to wonder if Dalat, the cooler mountain town, would have been a better choice. There's no town or what I thought would be within sight or walking distance. No one is swimming in the ocean - I imagine it's because of the warnings about undercurrents and jellyfish - great.
You know those moments? Where nothing seems to be redeeming? Well, if you're nodding, you are most likely indeed a traveler yourself. And if so, then you probably also know that eventually...
You take a shower and cool down and you spray yourself with that repellent you've been lugging around for these very pests. You realize where you are and begin to take in the view sans sandflies. You get a beer and sit on the giant swing on the beach and watch the cows go by (yep!). As you swing in the sunset over the beach, you recall the beautiful moments of the day - the thousands of people you witnessed exercising at sunrise (5am) on the beach in Nha Trang, the nice New Zealander who held your stuff as you climbed into your awkward bus bunk, the beautiful views had from said perch on the bus, the bus employees who did, in the end, make sure you made it to your destination... and just the fact that you're fortunate enough to have had a travel pillow that you will miss!
As I look at the stars from the tent on the beach where I'll sleep tonight - I count myself as so incredibly blessed to be on such an adventure here in Vietnam!
The journey from An Bang to Mui Ne:
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