Born to Be Wild

Something I never thought I'd do in my life is ride a motorbike. And ride a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City?? Even when I started learning on Phil's bike I fully expected I would have to give up and just use taxis and buses to get around this crazy place but Phil just kept believing in me and insisting that I ride in traffic, a bit more each time we went out, always providing the firm, assuring voice of encouragement from the back seat (You're doing great honey, up to 30) until that fateful night of destiny when we rode across the city on separate bikes after picking up our cool little retro manual change Honda Cub 50cc which I have since mastered and ridden successfully on multiple occasions including supermarket trips (supermarkets with basement carparks!) It's actually getting easier! I don't have to talk and sing to myself the whole time and consciously relax my shoulders/arms to resist the natural urge to panic!

aint it purdy?

I'm so happy to be alive! I've just ridden the cub for the first time without Phil on the road, and I stopped at the supermarket and brought groceries home!

Holding a current NZ car driver's license meant I didn't have to sit the written test to get my motorbike license in HCMC, where they drive in different vehicles on the other side of the road with different speed limits and road signs. Having never seen the road code here which apparently is only in Vietnamese anyway, here are the rules I am familiar with:

1. You should at all times, if at all possible, maneuver through intersections without putting your feet down unless you are actually stopped at a red light. Other wise you aren't a real biker.
2. To get through any crowded intersection or around a roundabout you have to creep forward while everyone else going in different directions weaves around you tooting their horns - it does help if you can be in someone else's "shadow" but NOT directly behind a car as there are people zipping around the car who may not see you until it's too late.
3. If you need to change lanes you do so gradually so riders coming up behind you can choose which side to pass you on (I get passed a lot)
4. Cars and buses toot loudly and constantly so you can get out of their way without having to try and look behind you (you don't want to look behind you)
5. Buses frequently pull over so you want to stay ahead of them, speeding through any gap necessary to do so.

Last Sunday I actually sat and passed my practical test for my motorbike license! It involved riding an assigned bike (that was put into gear for us) around a marked course that started with a pretty tight figure 8 in front of all the friends and supporters of everyone else who was taking their test that day - and everyone except the examiners loves to watch the foreigners! I know I went outside the lines at least twice, but I passed! It's an achievement I will always be proud of and when we get back it's going straight to the pool room.


It's pretty difficult to take photos while riding, but here are some pictures of things I have really seen:

People using cell phones.

Whole families on bikes - with unprotected toddlers standing up and babies in mother's arms.

Mobile pet shops! Not just goldfish, we've seen birds, puppies, hamsters etc. in cages stacked up around motorbikes, moving or parked. If there was an SPCA here we'd have called them but unless we want to fill our apartment with hot puppies and hamsters there is nothing we can do.

Bikes carrying just about anything, often more than twice the length/width/height of the bike. We've even seen a double bed being carried on the back of a motorbike.