The HORRIBLE Bus Trip to Kuching – 3rd July 2010 (9.00pm) to 4th July 2010 (9.00am)

Okay, actually an overnight bus trip to Kuching doesn't warrant its own blog post... unless, it is so damn horrible I am able to rant out a long stream of complaints.

So, we bought our ticket at erm, lets say company "sux", and Ian asked them if the bus is express bus all the way to Kuching. The clerk said yes. Ok, cool, then he asked if the bus for that night is old or new, the clerk said all their buses are new. Orite, that's even cooler. However, we didn't know that we are in for a hell of a ride!

The overall journey by bus will take approximately 12 hours and will take us past a few places on the way. Departing from Bintulu, we will head for Sibu first, then pass a new bridge on the Rejang river into Bintangor territory, then to Sarikei, to Sri Aman, lastly to Kuching. An overnight bus trip would mean we won't see anything on the way in the pitch blackness, so no photos for this blog post as well.

We decided to take an overnight bus trip to Kuching so that we could actually sleep on the bus, all the way to Kuching, so we can start our fun tour ASAP. But it turned out that the bus we were on was an old one. We reached the bus terminal and was deeply disappointed. Their reason? "Sorry boss, the new bus just broke down, had to take out the spare bus." One glance at the old bus... sigh, better be prepared for a not-so-fun ride. Not to discriminate old buses but this 1 really takes the cake away.

For 1, the bus is so noisy! All along the way the bus was groaning, screeching and squeaking non-stop. And as if it is not enough, the road condition all the way to Kuching was so terrible, everywhere got port holes, especially on the way to Sibu. Enough about the bus, lets talk about the interior of the bus. My seat, for example, doesn't recline... So, imagine sitting at a 90-100 degree angle for 12 hours, yeap it was hell. Ian's and Wu Zhang's seats did recline... but they had a trade off of unlimited air-con water drizzling down on them. And and!!! There is this putrid smell which I cannot really put my finger on... until I saw the "store room" compartment in front of me got cockroach coming out from the door cracks. I was like, what the hell!! And that "store room" as the sign reads, is actually a lavatory compartment, but they closed it down... and for good reason. But at least get rid of the smell and please please at least clean it.

So, we arrived exactly 12 hours later, distraught, fatigued and in extreme need of a real sleep. Hell of a way to start a new day.