The Sleeper Bus

My first ever trip on an infamous sleeper bus was this weekend from Udaipur to Ahmedabad, and was horrifically flawed from the outset. Booking any long distance bus is relatively easy (by Indian standards) to do online, but of course that only applies if you have an Indian bank card.  So, we cleverly went along to the travel agency and happily booked our two buses, one normal seated for Saturday morning and a Volvo (big oooh) A/C sleeper leaving at 6:55pm on Sunday night. But then, when we showed up to check in Sunday night in Udaipur, we were abruptly told “AM not PM” and that we’d missed it. Our travel man had messed up and left us stranded in Udaipur with little money and no place to stay or travel home. I luckily had taken my bank card and could get some money out to pay for a new bus that night, of course the next one not leaving until 10:30pm. We outstayed our welcome in an ice-cream café for three and a half hours with nothing else to do until 10pm when we were to return to the shop and be told where our bus was. To understand how India complicates things again, there are no bus stations or designated stops (at least not for long distance), and so they line up in no particular order along a few streets. I started to worry when no one told us what was going on by quarter past, and so a man looked at the tickets and walked away from us waving his arm to follow. He kindly found us our bus, although my panic was unnecessary because of course it left half an hour late.

Our new sleeper bus was half the price, but with no A/C, and I’d imagine double the smell. I was strangely excited, not quite knowing what to expect. The bus was essentially double decker – one main isle with cabins along each wall, some double and some single, almost replicating bunk beds with one above and one below. We found our double cabin and swung our bags up before manoeuvring the narrow ladder. It was shockingly comfortable and quite roomy. There was certainly enough space for two people to lie down, with built in pillows and a closable door. The slightly unpleasant smell of stale sweat and feet wasn’t too much of an issue for me as I lay down (using my scarf as a pillow) and was out of it almost before the bus began moving.

Moving was a whole other experience. It was a little bumpy and I often rolled into the wall, but the most painful was the bus horn. Because this is the most important feature a vehicle can have, buses have lovely musical horns that of course they aren’t afraid to show off. The whole journey was oddly enjoyable and I did at one point actually clap for India, despite the maaaany issues.

Then of course you have to figure out getting off the bus in the correct place, with no bus stops or a general idea of where you are meant to be going - we were told there would be no stop in Paldi which is where we live and so had to carry on to the last stop. This would have been fair enough if I hadn’t woken every 15 minutes when the bus chose to stop when we reached town (after SEVEN hours – three more than the journey there). And of course, I watched in misery as the bus did drive past uni and my flat but we hadn’t a clue what to do but watch and beg them to stop as soon as possible.

But! We did it, and now travel anywhere is possible! Plus I kind of love the sleeper bus a little…