As budget travelers we really have no choice. And it comes down to this: you must just blindly trust in the system and accept the ride you are on. Brilliant life lesson embedded in there too maybe? Maybe.
On the morning of the 23rd of December we had arrived from Ninh Binh to Bus station #1 in Hanoi. Instead of taking an Uber or taxi which would be 8 times the cost of public transportation ($4 as opposed to $0.50), we walked, took two city busses with a complicated transfer between bus stop 2 and 3 and successfully made it to the Hanoi airport for our flight to HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) - and it only took us 6 hours. We were so proud of ourselves.
So the next day, even though we were in a new city we knew we could crush it getting to Can Tho, deep in the Mekong Delta from the city center of HCMC. We did. But how we did it remains a complete mystery.
Uber exists in Vietnam and we found that taking an Ubermoto is super cheep. So Bill and I took separate Uber motos from our homestay to the bus terminal. I arrived first and bought our bus tickets to Can Tho for the bus that was apparently leaving "right now". Oops. With no Bill in sight, because his moto driver struggled to find the bus station, I refused to board the bus despite some protests. 10 minutes later Bill arrived and we were whisked away by a woman to jump on the bus. Only the bus was gone. The woman looked as puzzled as us. She made some phone calls (having the language mastery here would have been nice) and then motioned for us to get into a rusty silver Ford SUV. Sure, let's get into this car with a stranger. Another man got in the front seat. Hey! why not? Dirty car with two strangers might seem sketchy (and totally counter to all the beautiful fear inducing PSAs of our nostalgic American youth) but by this time the strange orchestra of beautifully disparate vehicles and humans conducted by a mysterious something that ties the whole transit system together had worked for us so many times that the thought that I might be getting kidnapped or murdered didn't even cross my mind. I trusted these people.
A few miles down the road there was our bus. We were ushered onto it and ordered to sit in the back.
A few hours later the bus stopped on the side of the highway for a seeming unknown reason. It's dark. No bus stop nearby. No real good reason to stop. Everyone stays put. Two minutes later another bus pulls up behind us and half of our bus's contents relocates to the new one. Bill and I stand but we are motioned to stay put. "Can Tho?" We ask to no one in particular. A woman with a friendly face shakes her head. She knows where we are trying to go and will now be our unofficial guide.
Another few hours pass and again we stop on the side of the road. This time we are told to get out. We are standing in the dark on the side of the highway with 5 Vietnamese people who ask us the standard question: "Where are you from?" Once we say USA they smile and nod and then go back to Vietnamese, their language of choice. We just stand there, hopeful that the system won't fail us now.
Five minutes later another unmarked scraggly SUV pulls up. Everyone climbs inside. The friendly-faced woman motions for us to climb in too. She speaks volumes to us in Vietnamese. I'm sure she's explaining everything. We just smile and nod. 20 minutes pass in the crowded car. Obviously there are no seat belts.
And then - like it was all meant to be - we arrive. Two Ubermotos. An unmarked SUV. A rickety bus. A roadside transfer and another unmarked vehicle and we're there. Seems like there was a plan all along.
This story. The "travel day story" happened at least 6 times while in Vietnam. The kind passenger who helps us look out for the right stop. The cell phone calls to organize it. The transfers. Over and over we had no clue what was happening and over and over we arrived safely to our destination.
It seems there is a Vietnamese guardian angel of sorts that ensures we make the right transfers and end up near helpful locals who have our backs. Really though, the trust comes easy. It's almost a relief to just let go and know that in one way or another you'll get there. There's no anxiety in watching a map or monitoring for turns or mile posts. There's no time crunch because you can't control that either. Your "4 hour bus ride" might take 3 or it might take 8. Just let go and let the ride happen.
The bus travel phenomenon has made me think about how being in uncomfortable foreign places can foster a sense of lack of control and how at the same time can create a warm comfort in knowing that you never had control in the first place.
Bill brings to our marriage a heavy weight on the scale for "letting go" where I tend to weigh heavier on the side of predictability and safety. Oddly, this trip has broadened our scopes as players in our marriage where lately Bill has taken the reins of organizer and planner and I've taken a backseat to a lot of it. And it works.
I thought we might struggle more with the unknowns of foreign travel as partners but so far, though our roles are somewhat shifting, we've settled into a nice rhythm that suits us both quite nicely. Yeah it's only been 3 weeks so let's not get overly optimistic, but I trust the ride will work out in neat ways that more than likely I will not really understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment