Remember when you were young and when your mum told you that you can have a bite of chocolate cake, you would always try to get the biggest bite possible? You open your mouth really wide and try to stuff as much as possible? Or when your sibling offered you a sip of their yakult and you would try to hold your breath and take the longest sip ever?
I haven’t had that feeling that i needed to maximise every opportunity available. Strangely, a bus ride from Vinh to Dong Hoi brought back that feeling. Tym and I were feeling smug (or at least I was) that we had scored a nice bus ride in a bus with curtains, A/C and a small LCD screen in the front playing vietnamese MTVs to boot. The conductor was a hard dude with a face weathered by the tough elements on the road. Tym described him as “the guy who could play the baddie in channel 8 dramas”. The inner auntie in me was feeling pleased that we had managed to bargain down the price from 100k dong to 60k dong although i found out later we were being ripped off (tourist price). No more crazy bus rides where the boss and his entourage smoking and partying at the back row. No more stranger’s feet hanging over my backpack and me waking up to seeing a foot in my face. No more traffic jams or stops on the road where everyone would rush out to see what accident had costed the jam. No more trying to rush to the toilet at the petrol kiosk in record time and worrying that the bus will drive off with my backpack and travel mate.
How wrong was I? The engine started and the LCD screen was kept away. At least, I won’t get a ear worm with that vietnamese MTV that they have put on a loop. Thing were definitely not looking up when we noticed that the A/C never got turned on. Oh well, we can always look out the window. When a family, with their motorcycle helmets on, started turning up on the bus, I thought to myself “geez, poor things, must be a bad day for them. bikes must have broken down”. And then it happened. They pushed the motorcycle onto the bus. The bus was full and conceited me thought, this should be a fast ride since the 24 seater bus is full and they won’t stop to pick up passengers. Wrong again. the 24 seater packed 40 pax at our final count and hey the communists are fair people. You paid a fare, you’ll get a seat. Everyone is equal, ok? Cushions were put in the aisles. Plastic stools were pulled. Voila! Nothing is impossible! The guys on the bus were pretty nice people. They dropped Tym and I at a spot in Dong Hoi where it was easy for us to get accommodation.
A few days later, we were in Dong Ha. Tym was doing her hotel research and I was feeling miserable as it was raining non stop. I was ready to skip Dong Ha and move on to Hue. Even our travel agent asked “why are you in Dong Ha, not Hue?” While waiting, I was standing by the roadside and trying to get some rainy day Vietnam shots. Then I saw our good friend. The conductor from the super packed bus ride. The bus was cruising down the road trying to pick up new passengers. He waved at me and I took a picture. It’s nice to have friends in small towns in Vietnam. 
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