Overnight Sleeper Busses in Vietnam

Sleeper bus (photo from Internet)

Overnight busses in Vietnam are a good way to travel when on a time crunch. They are cheap and travel at night, which gets you to your next destination without loosing a day and paying for a hotel. They have three rows of bunk beds and ‘sleep’ up to about 30 people- 30 very SHORT people. Leo and I found out the hard way that some busses are nicer than others. We bought a 4-stop bus ticket at the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel since we would be stopping in Hue, Hoi An and ending our trip in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon). We were told that we would be given our tickets on the first bus. Well after waiting for a van on the side of the road to take a big group of us to the bus, we ended up being the last ones along with 3 other guys. I think what happened is that our ‘VIP’ but had been overbooked, so after about an hour we find ourselves boarding a bus that was almost full of Vietnamese. The woman yelled at us to get off the bus when we didn’t have tickets in hand and we told her the situation. Finally someone called our hostel to confirm our names and we were granted the last two seats on the bus; both on the top middle row. I’m not a tall person and I could hardly fit my legs into the bed without being totally cramped. The best part was that I happened to have the TV coming down from the ceiling and into my lap. To top it all off, when boarding the bus Leo fell down the side stairwell on his way to look for a seat and everyone stared at us, shocked at these crazy foreigners. I really don’t think we were on the right bus. All night I sat/lay with my knees hanging out of my bed and the neon light flashing in my face while the Vietnamese men on either side of me lay stretched out in their beds with room to spare laughing at whatever show was playing.

I’m happy to say that the bus rides got better after this one. All the rest had bigger beds, blankets, and even a bathroom on board. The only problem was that after everyone got on, they would pick up people and let them sleep on the floor in the isles so you had to climb over them if you had to pee and try not to step on anyone! Oh the joys of traveling~