A Rough Start
August 11th. The day I finally boarded the bus to Manado.
To be completely honest, I woke up feeling absolutely under the weather. I couldn't help but wonder, "Am I really going to survive a long-haul bus ride in this condition?" But I had already made up my mind, so there was no turning back. I gathered whatever willpower I had left and got on.
My seat neighbor turned out to be super friendly, which was a huge relief since we had already chatted a bit before boarding. At first, I was feeling pretty optimistic. "Hey, this seat isn't actually too bad," I told myself.
The 20-Hour Struggle
Oh, how naive I was.
Two hours in, then three, then four... The reality of the situation quickly set in. I was physically draining by the minute.
"Wait, do I seriously have to sit here for another 20 hours?"
The ride was incredibly bumpy. Since I was seated near the front, every single oncoming car's headlights blasted straight into my eyes. It was completely blinding. As if that wasn't enough, someone in the back was blasting music.
How on earth am I supposed to sleep in this?!
A Bizarre 2 AM Wake-Up Call
Somehow, purely out of exhaustion, I finally managed to drift off—only to be jolted awake at 2:00 AM by the cabin lights suddenly flipping on at full blast.
"What is happening?!"
Turns out, it was dinner time. Apparently, if you miss this meal, you don't get to eat until 7:00 AM.
Are you kidding me? Why didn't we just eat at 7:00 PM like normal people?! I definitely wasn't in the mood to eat a full meal after being violently woken up in the middle of the night, so I skipped it. But hey, at least I got a chance to use the restroom. Small wins, right?
A Brutal But Valuable Experience
All I did today was ride a bus, but it was hands-down one of the most physically draining days of my life. My back was absolutely screaming, and no matter how I shifted, I couldn't get comfortable. I've never experienced anything quite like this before.
But you know what? It was still a great experience.
You can't truly understand these things until you go through them yourself. Sure, it was a brutal ride, but adding another wild story to my travel repertoire made it an absolutely amazing day in its own unique way.
