A Story of Survival and Courage Phu Truong is only 12 years old and must flee Vietnam alone and destitute aboard a small fishing boat overloaded with 260 passengers. He survives Thai pirate attacks and near starvation and spends months in a Malaysian refugee camp before landing in San Francisco in 1979, where he is miraculously reunited with loved ones. From his first SamTrans bus ride from the San Francisco International airport, Phu dreams of becoming a bus driver and helping people like his father, a respected healer in Truong’s hometown. Now a veteran San Francisco Muni bus Operator of the Year with a 16-year safety commendation, Truong is one of the best-loved Muni drivers among his passengers because of his sunny disposition and friendly, helpful nature. Of Hakka Chinese origin, Truong practices the Buddhist principles he learned from his father and from the monks he lived with as a small, sickly child: what goes around comes around.