What's going on with Fungwah?

I like to consider myself one of the original Fungwah bus riders. I have been taking the Fungwah since it was a mere $10 (now its $15) and long before they had a spot in South Station in Boston. I had some interesting rides; one included being pulled over on Route 95 with a busload of 30 people, another involved a driver brushing up on his English for the entire four hour trip.

But nothing compares to my trip on Friday. I made it on the 3:30 bus where the branding of the bus was conspicuously absent. I didn't think too much of it until I sat down and took a look around. This clearly wasn't a "Chinese" bus as there was a USSR flag and signed poster of the Olympic hockey team. Hmmm... Things got even more interesting when our bus driver (named Boris) arrived in his leather vest that had such things as an American flag, his name tag, and Route 66 patch sewn on.

Boris wasn't the friendliest of fellows telling his passengers that we would arrive "verry verry verry late." He pulled over in the middle of Connecticut for no apparent reason, yelled at people if they stood up, and passed about a mile of traffic before squeezing himself in to merge onto Route 84. Boris also refused to turn the AC off and was working about two cellphones and his CB radio (in Russian). He finally acquiesced to stop for a break about 4 and a half hours into the trip. When we did stop and I inquired to how long it would take, he refused to give a range. Five and a half hours after leaving NY we arrived. His final dispatch on the loudspeaker, "Arriving South Station, Boston. Next stop, New York," as if some of us were going to make the return trip with him.

Pulling into South Station, the Fungwah employees seemed thrilled to see Boris, as if there were a 50/50 chance that he would show.

Just another trip on the Fungwah.