I didn't have time to check the spelling on this one...sorry.
Getting on the back of a non English speaking, 21 year old Vietnamese boy's motorcycle on the streets of the most chaotic traffic in asia take some guts...but of course I have enough of those streaming through my viens for 5 people. So, that's exactly what me and mom did. Insane? Totally, Worth the soiled nickers and 2 dollars an hour it cost? Definetly.
We hired these two guys standing on a street corner to take us on what we though would be a short motorcycle taxi ride to the china town in Saigon. It turned into an 8 hours tour of the entire city and surrounding areas on the back of a half broken down motor bike. No road rules, no helmet, no English. Well a little English. Here, I'll let you in on some conversation snippits. For sake of ease we will call me J and my driver BB (bike boy)
J: why are we pulling over?
BB: motorcycle broken
J: oh really, nice!
BB: no go on big hill, gas station
J: uh, ok!
BB: miss miss, get on go go!
J: O.K!
and away we go
#2)
J: why are those people yelling at us?
BB: (no response)
J: why are we pulling over
BB: no hat, police arrest us, get off bike and walk up ahead past police officer, then wait
J: Uh, ok...(proceed to walk)
BB: (running after us breathless) come back, no go, bad police
J: ok, (walk back to bikes which are now hidden in a garden shed)
BB: we take secret route
J: O.k (and away we go)
This was followed by us getting totally lost on the back roads of the rural Saigon outskirts. We had pull over and ask a guy with like 40 live chickens strapped to the back of his bike how to get where we were going. We finally make it to our destination which was the Cuchi war tunnels, it was totally boring and I wouldn't recommend it (the most interesting part was the giant centipede I spotted in a tree) unless you take a motorcycle taxi driven by a suicidal maniac because getting there was more than half the fun. ALthough if you want to shoot an AK47 you can do it there..I opted out.
**this conversation (the let's enjoy hidding from the police) scenario played itself out 3 or 4 times and we ended up getting a very intimate tour of the back country roads of Vietnam while trying to avoid the police.
It was totally cool though, insane, precarious, terrifying at the best of times but awesome. The traffic cannot be explained, nothing means anything, traffic goes every way, lights me nothing, the centre line means nothing (cars actually drive with the centre line running right down the centre of the car) there were many a times when my legs were actually touching the bike driving next to me.
All this time, no helmet, flip flops and a complete lack of interest in my personal safety. It rocked. Plus my driver was cute...married with a kid but cute. Always a bonus.
Today we have hired the same two guys to take us 1.5 hours on the highway down to the Mekong delta where hopefully we will be catching our death boat to Cambodia.
As they say in Japan
SUBARASHI NE!!!
P.S there are so many Japanese here that I feel like I'm at home.
Cheers
Please send your good cosmic buddha vibes our way so that we don't drown in the river and get eaten by crocs and electric eels.
Cheers
Joe
Peter!! You have to hire these bike guys. They are always on the corner across from the Aeroflot headquarters...not joking here.... If you are standing in front of Aeroflot look across the street towards the river. They will be on the corner. One is cute and one is not. The not so cute one speaks English. Get them to take you all over the place it's wicked fun, you two can fight over who gets to put their hands on the cute one...I think Stuart gets him though since you have to behave yourself.
Cheers
Getting on the back of a non English speaking, 21 year old Vietnamese boy's motorcycle on the streets of the most chaotic traffic in asia take some guts...but of course I have enough of those streaming through my viens for 5 people. So, that's exactly what me and mom did. Insane? Totally, Worth the soiled nickers and 2 dollars an hour it cost? Definetly.
We hired these two guys standing on a street corner to take us on what we though would be a short motorcycle taxi ride to the china town in Saigon. It turned into an 8 hours tour of the entire city and surrounding areas on the back of a half broken down motor bike. No road rules, no helmet, no English. Well a little English. Here, I'll let you in on some conversation snippits. For sake of ease we will call me J and my driver BB (bike boy)
J: why are we pulling over?
BB: motorcycle broken
J: oh really, nice!
BB: no go on big hill, gas station
J: uh, ok!
BB: miss miss, get on go go!
J: O.K!
and away we go
#2)
J: why are those people yelling at us?
BB: (no response)
J: why are we pulling over
BB: no hat, police arrest us, get off bike and walk up ahead past police officer, then wait
J: Uh, ok...(proceed to walk)
BB: (running after us breathless) come back, no go, bad police
J: ok, (walk back to bikes which are now hidden in a garden shed)
BB: we take secret route
J: O.k (and away we go)
This was followed by us getting totally lost on the back roads of the rural Saigon outskirts. We had pull over and ask a guy with like 40 live chickens strapped to the back of his bike how to get where we were going. We finally make it to our destination which was the Cuchi war tunnels, it was totally boring and I wouldn't recommend it (the most interesting part was the giant centipede I spotted in a tree) unless you take a motorcycle taxi driven by a suicidal maniac because getting there was more than half the fun. ALthough if you want to shoot an AK47 you can do it there..I opted out.
**this conversation (the let's enjoy hidding from the police) scenario played itself out 3 or 4 times and we ended up getting a very intimate tour of the back country roads of Vietnam while trying to avoid the police.
It was totally cool though, insane, precarious, terrifying at the best of times but awesome. The traffic cannot be explained, nothing means anything, traffic goes every way, lights me nothing, the centre line means nothing (cars actually drive with the centre line running right down the centre of the car) there were many a times when my legs were actually touching the bike driving next to me.
All this time, no helmet, flip flops and a complete lack of interest in my personal safety. It rocked. Plus my driver was cute...married with a kid but cute. Always a bonus.
Today we have hired the same two guys to take us 1.5 hours on the highway down to the Mekong delta where hopefully we will be catching our death boat to Cambodia.
As they say in Japan
SUBARASHI NE!!!
P.S there are so many Japanese here that I feel like I'm at home.
Cheers
Please send your good cosmic buddha vibes our way so that we don't drown in the river and get eaten by crocs and electric eels.
Cheers
Joe
Peter!! You have to hire these bike guys. They are always on the corner across from the Aeroflot headquarters...not joking here.... If you are standing in front of Aeroflot look across the street towards the river. They will be on the corner. One is cute and one is not. The not so cute one speaks English. Get them to take you all over the place it's wicked fun, you two can fight over who gets to put their hands on the cute one...I think Stuart gets him though since you have to behave yourself.
Cheers
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home