28 World Racers stuck on a bus for 27 hours.
Will they all survive?
Read and find out!
Hour 1 (8AM): Good Morning Viet Nam! Every one is anxious to get on the road!
Hour 2 (9AM): We only had about 4 hours of sleep, so we all tried to get a nap in. However, that is nearly impossible when your bus driver slams on the LOUD bus horn every 30 seconds. Seriously, every 30 seconds he would go "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP BEEP". It was to inform all the other drivers that he was about to cut them off, even if that meant he was driving on the wrong side of the road, forcing people to go off of the road. Every 30 seconds.
Hour 3 (10AM): We are now aware that the cigarette smoke smell has been coming from the driver. He proceeded to light one up every 30 minutes or so for the remainder of our trip. Some people tried watching a movie to pass the time.
Hour 4 (11AM): We were allowed a 5 minute restroom break with western toilets, too bad we didn't bring toilet paper. Little did we know, this would be the last western toilet we would see. I was able to grab what looked similar to a kolache for lunch. Little did I know this would be my last chance to get food today.
Hour 5 (12 PM): The bus had mats, like you would use for tumbling, for us to sleep/ sit on. Surrounding the mats were big metal bars, to insure we wouldn't fall off during the ride. As we bumped down a dirt road, it felt less like a bus ride and more like a roller coaster, I'm not sure how many times I bumped my head or almost fell onto the ground.
Oh, and I got attacked by a moth.
Hour 6 (1PM): Pigs are outside of my window, which wouldn't be abnormal, except i'm on the top bunk of the bus. There was a truck with pigs stacked on top of more pigs as tall as the bus. Rest in peace, Babe!
Hour 7 (2PM): We play 2 truths & a lie, card games, and tell stories to pass the time. My butt has fallen asleep and the cankles are back with a vengeance.
Hour 8 (3PM): We pull off on the side of a road in front of a rice farm. The boys go out into the field to pee. The women are instructed that we have to wait 25 minutes for a restroom.
Hour 9 (4PM): We had the most intense hour and a half, bumping down roads, taking sharp turns, swerving into oncoming traffic, all while the women are doing the potty dance.
Plus, the weird creature won't stop staring at me!
Hour 10 & 1/2 (5:30PM): First off, it is pitch black dark at 5pm in Viet Nam. We, finally, pulled next to a concrete shack for the women to pee. We got out to discover that the only thing to pee into was a cut-out piece of concrete inside of the shack, or squattys filled with poop. A German tourist held a flash light for us, while we peed on the concrete. I won't go into further detail, but my toms are pretty much ruined now.
Hour 11 (6PM): We got all of our bags situated and made ourselves a little more comfortable on the bus. Every one was just getting relaxed, when the driver started yelling at us. He proceeded to yell at the people who had spread out onto other seats, pointing his finger in their faces. He threw any bags that were touching the floor up onto the seats. Basically, he got outraged about every thing and was literally screaming in people's faces. This was the point we realized that he didn't like us, at all.
Hour 12 (7PM): We were informed that we would stop for dinner in 3 hours. Oh, fun. We were supposed to get a dinner break for an hour and a 1/2 around dinner time. Not the case.
Hour 13 (8PM): The driving got even scarier as we made our way up a mountain. There was turn after turn and very narrow roads. Our driver decided he would pass 5 trucks at one time, while oncoming traffic was speeding towards us. He swerved back into our lane just in time and made the bus tip towards one side. I was sure that we were going to roll down the mountain and straight into the ocean.
Hour 14 (9PM): Intensive prayer time for the driver, all of us, and the other passengers.
Hour 15 (10PM): Prayer, prayer, "OH MY GOSH", more prayer.
Hour 16 & 1/2 (11:30PM): We stop at a place to eat, which I think it was owned by the bus driver's family. The prices were ridiculous, the place was sketchy, the menus smelled rank and were covered in an unknown sticky substance, and their were bugs..lots of bugs. We ordered rice, because we were all starving and prayed it wouldn't make us sick.
Hour 17 (12AM): Back on the bus for "bed time"/more intensive prayer time. Only 10 more hours to go!
Hour 18,19, & 21: Lots of prayer, 15 minute naps, rain, and the driver continues to ride peoples bumpers/drive crazy,
Hour 22 (4AM): I wake up and check out the local scenery. We pass water buffalo, sheep, chickens, ducks, and people working in the fields. The AC keeps switching from eskimo to warm and muggy.
Hour 23 (5AM): We are all so ready to get off the bus.
Hour 24 (6AM): 5 minute time to potty at the squattys!
Hour 25 (7AM): We drop off the German tourists at the last stop before the city we are going to. We also pick up some pretty stinky people to replace them. I hold my pillow pet up to my nose, so I don't have to smell the staaaaank.
Hour 26 (8AM): The driver starts yelling at us. The only thing we understand is the name of the place we are going to. We start getting our stuff ready, just in case we are arriving early. 1 minute later..we arrive…early.
Hour 27 (9AM): We stand on the side of the road, waiting for our contact to lead us to the place we will be staying.
Hour 27 & 1/2 (9:30AM): We hike to the place we will stay and jump for joy!!! Well, we didn't jump, we joyfully collapsed.
I promise this is not exaggerated.
It's my life.
World Race!
And I wouldn't change one thing!
