August 13, 2007

Hoi An (VIETNAM)

Not a Good Way to Travel

The phone in my hostel woke me up at 7am this morning.

"Hello" I managed to mutter.

"Where are you? The bus is getting ready to leave" came the response on the other line.

Although my bus was scheduled to leave at 2pm (I arranged it via the front desk yesterday), there were apparently no seats available and I was stuck with the 7am bus - and no notification due to a misunderstanding at the desk. Anyway, who was to blame didn't really matter because I wasn't left with much of a choice - catch this bus or be stuck in Hue for another day. I jumped out of bed and threw all my stuff into my backpack, and with barely enough time to brush my teeth I ran downstairs and hopped aboard another bus - this time for a six hour ride to the city of Hoi An.

When I arrived in Hoi An, which is a small town that is supposed to offer "old town charm", I was disappointed to see more tourists than locals and all the antique shops were geared toward foreigners. This was hardly the Vietnam I came to see (it was quite nice, but it didn't feel authentic enough), and I arranged to be aboard the next bus down the coast (at this point I just wanted to reach Saigon and be done with Vietnam).

I had to wait about four hours before leaving, and luckily enough I ran into Jin who was driving past on a motorbike. He let me shower in his hostel and have a rest, but with the prospect of more bus travel I was hardly optimistic about what the future had in store.