Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Do you struggle to get a good night’s sleep? Let the motions of the open road lull you to bed aboard Ulu Travel’s five-hour bus ride to nowhere!
Inspired by a friend’s sleepless struggles, Ulu’s marketing and business manager, Kenneth Kong, dreamed up the perfect solution for stressed and sleepless patrons. The Bus Sleeping Tour gives patrons the unique opportunity to catch some Zs aboard the city’s longest bus route, a 47-mile journey around the Tuen Mun highway and North Lantau Island.
“When we were brainstorming new tours, I saw a social media post from my friend saying that he was stressed out by his work, he couldn’t sleep at night,” Kong told the Associated Press. “But when he was traveling on the bus, he was able to sleep well. His post inspired us to create this tour that lets passengers just sleep on the bus.”
Sleeping in style doesn’t come free, but it does come cheap, with ticket prices ranging from $13 to $51. This double-decker bus features four different cabin types, including the “Zero-Decibel Sleeping Business-Class Cabin” and “VIP Panorama Cabin” on the upper deck, with the “Zero-Decibel Sleeping Economy-Class Cabin” and “Extra-legroom Cabin” on the lower.
However, if you’re expecting a bed set up on the bus, you’ll be disappointed. The VIP Panorama Cabin offers one reserved seat per passenger, while the other three are first-come, first-served, with passengers getting a comfy two seats per person. All options do come with a Free Bus Sleeping Gift Set, complete with an eye mask and earplugs!
Hong Kong tour company launches 5 hour/47 km bus ride, just for passengers to sleep on the bus.
The company noticed patrons falling asleep on its buses and launched the tour for people who can’t sleep at night. Tickets range from $13 to $51 per person. pic.twitter.com/Lu4oIcRx06
— Thos Major (@ThosMajor) October 27, 2021
All tours to Snooze City begin at a restaurant, where sleep-deprived passengers prime themselves for the nap of a lifetime with a two-course “food coma lunch.”
While passengers in the Zero-Decibel cabins are encouraged to cruise and snooze for the duration, the tour also offers stops at various scenic sites, including Butterfly Beach, Inspiration Lake, and “very secret sights,” for those hoping to see more than their inner eyelids.
This isn’t the first time Hong Kong has drummed up a special encounter for insomniacs. In 2018, SLEEEP became Hong Kong’s first licensed capsule hotel, offering sleepy city-dwellers eight wooden pods outfitted with beds and ambient lighting to get some shut-eye in.
According to a 2020 poll conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, almost 7 out of 10 citizens surveyed had insomnia resulting from a mix of pandemic, social unrest, and work-induced stress.
With a population of 7.4 million people and only 1,000 kilometers of land, Hong Kong’s density has resulted in tiny apartments, long commutes, and hoards of citizens running on fumes.
Additionally, the city is one of the most light-polluted places globally, making the night sky glow about 1,000 times brighter than average and resulting in excess artificial light that reduces sleep quality.
Considering that last Saturday’s inaugural ride sold out, we’d say this tour may be what Hong Kong sleepy citizens’ dreams are made of!
By Meghan Yani, contributor for Ripleys.com
