Look online and you'll find a lot of bad reviews about the notorious Vietnamese night bus... but alas, it's the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way of inter-city transport. We could have taken the much comfier sleeper train but were put off by reports of groups of youths operating scams for connecting buses from the destination train station.... so we took the bus to Sa pa. This thing is a the size of a normal bus but has bunk beds inside with a central isle. Seats are arranged in pairs with a total of 30 seats to a bus. The seats recline almost horizontally with your feet going under the person in front's head. They cannot be put in a completely upright position - so sleeping is encouraged. There are no seatbelts, just a small arm rest for the isle sleepers to stop them falling off the bed during excessive turbulance - which is most of the time!
We only had 3 hours sleep the previous night and we brought eye masks and ear plugs so we were prepared. It was an 11 hour ride including stops and it was well bumpy! At one point a huge bump in the road nearly sent me flying off the bed, fortunately Mandeep grabbed me in time! We were on the top bunk and i had an isle bed, you've got to position yourself just right to jam your arse in the arm rest, a position which can easily be lost when extremely tired. Mandeep reckons she would have fallen off due to her shapely differences but I think she's just being a woman. We arrived in one piece, managed a few hours sleep each and liked it enough to do it again in a few days time..
Below: sleeper bus, each aisle has space for two people at the top and two at the bottom; blankets and cushion provided making for a reasonably comfortable ride (if you're less than 5'10)
Sa pa is all about the scenary and the local tribes. We decided to take a motorbike along the tam tron pass - a stunning route carved through the undulating mountains surrounding Sa pa. Rice has just been harvested giving a yellow appearance to the paddy fields, looking like staircases for giants who may have once walked up the mountain side.. they were planting rice in Indonesia, it was maturing in Cambodia and we have seen the harvest in Vietnam. The Divine time piece keeps on ticking, day blends into night, plants grow to fruition, seasons change. The Prophet, peace and blessings upon him advised: “Take benefit of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied and your life before your death”.
Below: mountain views along the pass, super beut the entire way
above: the rice paddies forming ridges up the mountain
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