Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

While in Vietnam we used the Open Tour Buses to hop around from city to city. They weren’t ideal but they were cheap and got the job done. All of the buses run overnight too which is quite helpful as you get to save a night’s accommodation and you don’t lose a day traveling. We had already taken quite a few night buses but our last one was definitely the most memorable.

We left Nha Trang around 830 at night heading for Saigon. I somehow got the smallest bunk on the bus. This was our first time sleeping on the bottom bunk and I can say I definitely prefer the top. The “bed” was only big enough for my feet to touch one end and my head to touch the other . I could fit one arm down by my sides but there wasn’t enough room for both. Now I know I am bigger than most Asians, but I didn’t think I was that much bigger!

At around 130 we stopped in Mui Ne to swap out some passengers. This is when we were lucky enough to have Frankie ( late 50s from NY) his sister (mid 50’s from Florida) and his beautiful Vietnamese wife (no older than 35). Oh, and their 12 year old dog. Truthfully, I didn’t really hear anyone get on or off the bus, I had my iPod on loud enough to drown out the man snoring next to me that I didn’t hear much of anything. Until later that is.

At 2:45 everyone was woken up to find the bus smashing into the back of the transport truck ahead of us. Team America immediately rushed into action. Jacob and I checked to make sure each other were okay and I went to fetch our stuff that had slid to the other end of the bus. The rest of the passengers on board sat up for a few minutes then went back to sleep. Frankie and his sister though, took over. She started hooting and hollering trying to make sure everyone was ok, in some fairly colourful language while he rushed to the front of the bus to snoop around. During his investigation he discovered that the bus driver had become pinned under the steering wheel and he needed “some guy with big muscles” to come help him.

Seeing as Jacob was the only other English speaker on the bus and the only one awake, he stepped up to the challenge. They got the driver out and thankfully no one was hurt. Frankie’s sister was quite keen to get everyone and all their stuff off the bus so we sat under someone’s front porch for the next couple of hours waiting for the next bus to show up. Thankfully we were given constant entertainment with Frankie and sister’s retelling of their harrowing tale.

I think the funniest part of the whole ordeal was that no one else seemed to be at all bothered by the situation. The two Americans acted as if Armageddon was imminent but then most other people just went back to sleep on the bus. They didn’t ask any questions, check to make sure anyone was ok, or even bother to find out where we were. There was no police or ambulance called in. Traffic didn’t even slow down.   I’m thinking this thing may happen on a more regular basis than I’d care to know.