The boys will be jealous!

I've ridden many miles around Ho Chi Minh City on the back of Hương's motorbike. Yesterday and today I did the driving!!! 

Some of those rides, and traffic in general, have been chronicled in other posts.

• Oh yes we are walking across that street
• Green means go
• Playing in the street
• etc...

Yesterday we went to Hương's brother's home in Vung Tau. It's a small island and much less traffic than in Ho Chi Minh City. We were offered a motorbike to ride around and take in the sights. 

Hương let me drive without too much hesitation. I've already driven a little, from the parking garage a few hundred meters down the street to the first intersection and from a local market back to the parking garage (maybe 2 km, two right hand turns and no busy intersections).

In Vung Tau I drove us around the whole island. Around a 40 minute drive. Plus about 15 or 20 minutes driving around her brother's neighborhood.

Today I drove in the big show, in Ho Chi Minh City! And for about 10 - 15 km in busy traffic. Not rush hour but actual normal daily traffic. Hương didn't scream once the whole trip and actually said I'm ready for my Vietnamese motorbike license. Oh yeah.

Of course three months learning the ins and outs behind Hương and baby steps driving the bike short distances at quiet times made it all possible. I'd have been road kill if I tried such serious driving much before today.

The traffic dance

As ever traffic here continues to fascinate me. This video is from my July trip with my two youngest boys. If you're feeling mellow and want to vege out for less then a minute now's the time to sit back, relax and enjoy the dance.

No stoplights. Motorbikes, cars, trucks, buses and pedestrians just merging with one another at a traffic circle in a continuous ballet. Almost no one comes to a full stop.

...and more stuff moves through the streets

Back to the topic of carrying loads around Saigon. This time its carrying big or unwieldy loads on motorbikes and bicycles. When my fiancée visited me in the US over Thanksgiving she gave me the book "Bikes of Burden" packed with photos of overloaded motorbikes. It inspired me to try and get some similar photos and videos for myself. This video is a montage of several overloaded motorbikes and bicycles. Kind of a "flavor" of the typical sights seen while riding around the city.

Many motorbikes at the end of the video are carrying various sorts of plants. Those shots were taken in the days before Tet holiday. It seemed everyone was getting some type of tree, shrub or flower to celebrate Tet. There's also a clip of a family of four on a motorbike. Not a commercial load but still an overloaded bike. And I'm sure there's more motorbikes in the background of the other clips overloaded with people.

Also note the way people dress. Many are fully covered with long sleeves, hoods, gloves and long pants. The daily temperature is about 90°F±! The Vietnamese are protecting themselves from the sun but why they don't get heat stroke in the bargain I can't understand.

Perhaps these clips are not as awe inspiring as the bicycle rider/delivery guy. However this activity goes on morning to night. Like busy ants working tirelessly to support the colony. At some point I might not take notice but for now it continually intrigues me to see all these oversize loads carried on small vehicles crisscrossing the city throughout the day. The motorbikes are typically 105cc I'm told. And of course it's just legs when its a bicycle!

Update: Apparently the typical delivery motorbike is only about 70cc and a decade or two old. The 105cc bikes belong to people better off than the delivery drivers.

A little taste of home

I wanted coffee. I do like Vietnamese coffee, especially cà phê sữa nóng. When I saw Starbucks I decided to try it and see if or how it changed for Vietnam.

Look at the picture and you'll see, it changed by not being Starbucks any more! And there are some other differences too. First there's only one size of coffee and second the price is reasonable. As for similarities the coffee is good perhaps even better. Told you I like Vietnamese coffee.

Oh yes we are walking across THAT street!!!

Stopped to do some shopping at a Coop Mart. Needed some things like another tooth brush. Stores in Vietnam don't carry the same selections of goods that are found in US stores. So even though the Coop Mart is somewhat comparable to a Walmart there are certain things that just are not there and must be purchased elsewhere. Example goods that aren't stocked are cards, pens, stationery of any kind. I needed a card and across the street from the Coop Mart was a book and stationery store. So across the street we went.

The stationery store didn't have much of a selection. Only two subjects on the cards, "Happy New Year" (Vietnamese New Year) and "Happy Birthday".

Crossing to get to the book/stationery store was mind blowing. Standing on the curb looking at the street it's hard to imagine crossing. Crossing back to return to the motorbike I decided right away to record the trek. Watch and you'll see why.

To cross was not just embarking on some foolhardy tourist adventure. You'll see plenty of other people crossing too, when they're not obscured by traffic that is.

Listen closely at the beginning and you'll hear the nickname for buses and why they are called that.

Green means go

...and red doesn't necessarily mean stop! I'll beat the traffic horse for a while. Saigon traffic still fascinates me. Below is a video taken at a red light. We're stopped. The light changes to green. We go. The intersection isn't clear, the other traffic hasn't stopped and this is how Saigon traffic is. Watch the progress through the intersection. Just amazing.

Don't miss the traffic's composition. Buses, cars, motorbikes a bicycle and 3 pedestrians!! In Hochiminh kids are taught how to play in the street, it's a life skill.

How about working in traffic?

Hochiminh is a bustling city. There's life and activity on every corner and along every block. And there's plenty of traffic to and fro to bring activity to every block. Traffic is a feature of the city. It's written about in papers and magazines. And its talked about on television. So it really wasn't a surprise to see this photo/video shoot going on down the centerline of a four lane road entering/exiting a busy traffic circle. It wasn't a surprise but it was still worthwhile to stop, watch and shoot the action, from the safety of the curb.