Vietnam - in praise of buses by Mark Eveleigh

Vietnam could be described as ‘a tall country that is much more up and down than sideways.’ Go almost anywhere from Saigon and it seems that you are likely to be involved in a fairly long journey. Fortunately overland travel in ‘Nam is as comfortable as it is inexpensive. After a summer spent on air-con-frigid and salsa-blasted long-distance night buses up the length of Central America just the sight of a bus terminal waiting room was beginning to bring on a sudden urge to scramble for a thick woolly ‘chomper’ and a set of ear-plugs. Last month I made the 48 hour bus journey from KL to Bangkok. Even Central American buses are streets ahead of the sort of comforts offered by our beloved National Express and Malay and Thai long distance buses are extremely good.

Even so I was slightly dubious about the prospects of a further 24 hours on a Vietnamese bus travelling from Saigon to Danang. But the winner in this year’s Markies Travel Awards for the ‘world’s best long distance buses’ definitely goes to Vietnam!

I had originally intended to take the train from Saigon. I’m a bit of a rail junky anyway. I don’t collect toy trains or spend my weekends painting old boilers or anything but I do think that rail travel is very often a fast-track into the soul of a country’s mobile population. And since the mobile population is very often the most interesting cross section...

Anyway, who can fail to be seduced by a train journey that goes under the name of the Reunification Express? However, when it came to leaving Saigon Vietnam’s buses won the toss simply because they offered such hassle free departures from the city. No hustling out to some remote railway station, just another quick and terrifying dash (loaded as usual with camera bags and pack) downtown on a Honda Om (literally ‘Honda Hug’) taxi bike. The coach departed from a tour operators in the District 1 ‘backpacker ghetto.’

These Vietnamese long distance buses don’t have reclining seats: instead they have serious bunk beds! There are in fact three rows of bunks, looking something like hospital beds, with backs that raise you almost into a straight sitting position. You take your shoes off at the door and carry them inside in plastic bags so that you can sit with your legs stretched out in front of you. If the bus is not too full aim for the seats at the rear. There are five beds in a row here but if, as I did, you get lucky and have a window bed at the back – and get doubly lucky and have nobody in the beds around – you end up with a sprawling king-sized bed all to yourself.

I made half the journey to Danang in a local standard sleeper bus with only half a dozen other passengers (mostly Vietnamese). The journey was pure bliss. At midnight however we had to transfer. My ticket onwards from here got me onto a more ‘luxurious’ tourist bus. The layout was the same but the seats were ergonomically designed in the sort of moulded plastic and fake leather that would make the inside of a Lexus people mover look shabby. However, this bus was completely full with backpackers and by midnight the air was getting pretty funky and musty. My advice would be to downgrade and go for local transport. As long as you do that Vietnam has, hands-down the world’s best buses!

I made the return, southbound journey, by train anyway. Ask for ‘soft-sleep’ tickets rather than ‘hard-sleep’ and you bag less crowded cabins with only 4 beds as opposed to 6...as the name would suggest you get softer beds. Vietnam’s trains also get the big thumbs up. Next time I head back I plan to travel by train from Saigon to Hanoi...and since the Danang-Saigon ‘express’ departed only 5 hours later than scheduled I think Vietnam’s Reunification Express is probably still likely to give British Rail a run for it’s money in the next Markies Travel Awards.
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