Thursday, June 9, 2011

Good Morning Vietnam

Ross
Back in Hanoi at the end of 8 great days.  The picture postcard scenery, tasty food, hospitable people and exciting riding are things we will never forget.
Some of the fun has certainly come from the challenges.  There is a saying that in Thailand they drive on the left, In Laos on the right and in Vietnam on either side of the road.  There is a law that says they drive on the right, but it's perfectly acceptable to drive short distances on the left, especially if the traffic is busy and it's hard to get across the road.  Officially there are no rules at intersections.  No stop signs, no right or left hand rules - just everyone has to take care to avoid an accident.  It works better than it sounds, but it takes some getting used to and this afternoons drive into the centre of Hanoi in the heat of the afternoon left us sweating from more than the 36 odd degree air temperature and blazing sun.
I don't think the lack of intersection rules is the main reason that Vietnam has the second most dangerous roads in the world.  The roads are shared for so many different purposes.  Scooters ridden at sorts of speeds are the most common traffic, but there are buffalo carts, tractor pulled carts, farm trucks, all sizes of road trucks and  a few cars and 4wds to boot.  Buffalo and cows are driven along roads, or graze from them and there are always people walking or standing on the road.  They may be carrying baskets balanced on a pole, pushing a bike, minding cattle, drying crops on the road or just walking many kms to or from the market.
The roads themselves are often in a poor state.  Poorly built then used by trucks much to heavy for their design specification (let alone construction quality) the centre of the lane often squeezes up into ridges of broken tarmac and rocks big enough to snag the footpegs of motorbikes.
To this mix must be added the drivers. The vast majority drive slowly and carefully, mindful that on their scooter they are carrying the whole family, or that hanging off the sides of the scooter are their market goods (be it dogs, pigs, rice, fertiliser, flowers) that make the load wider than a small car.  However there are more reckless drivers and a lot of drunk drivers.  We would often stop in road houses for lunch or afternoon refreshments to see tables of people downing beers with rice whisky chasers, their scooters parked outside.

Len
I'd like to finish my record of the motorcycle part of the trip with a toast to my companions of the last few days.  They are scholars and gentlemen both.  To give one small example, operating our joint finances over the last eight days there have naturally been times when we've individually ended up with short or long positions relative to the trip kitty.  We have also discussed Vietnam's desire to become a hard currency.  Given that currency's name these conversations could easily have generated any number of juvenile and tasteless puns.  But my friends, even at the end of the day when tired and emotional, have consistently maintained the highest standards of discourse.  


And who do we bump into after an hour back in Hanoi?  There is my Lilly on the street.  Be still my beating heart!.  I am shocked and a little unsure of my ground but my companions quickly intercede on my behalf and arrange for us to spend the day together on Friday.  Recognising the proprieties that need to be observed they have also generously offered to chaperon. What excellent friends!

Mark

Whee back in Hanoi - have managed to travel over 1000 km on the some of the worlds most dangerous roads and have not fallen off while moving. The journey has been one which has challenged our physical abilities, our senses and our stomach, and has left us all with a positive view of Vietnam and the people. In the country people were always keen to say hello, often the only english they had, and at times as I mentioned previously to offer us some rice wine.

In riding through the country my approach has been to assume that around the next corner there was going to be the unexpected - a hole in the road, a buffalo, motor bike or anything think else that we might not yet thought of. We generally rode in a line following Chung, one had to be careful when following Ross as he seemed to have a natural attraction to the local animals, who all seemed to decide to move out into the road
to be nearer to him which meant some level of evasive action when following behind.

The motor bike(scooters) are the main form of travel here and the incredible things we have seen been moved on them, and generally at high speed. Yesterday in Lang Song while preparing to head home the Bubblegum sales lady was parked next to us with a huge storage compartment on the back, then she came out and loaded several more boxes on top and away she went.

Some transport highlights
       - a pyramid of boxes 8 ft high
       - fish in plastic bags hanging off poles
       - building materials
       - eight pigs stacked four by four ( fully grown)
      
We left Lang Song all feeling that we had mastered the motorbike and roads of Vietnam until we then hit the traffic of Hanoi - traffic in all directions, buses that  zig zagged across the lanes merging traffic and now we went from a few motor bikes to hundreds.

Off to see the sights of anoi with Lilly - TBC.

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