Motorcycles

One of the first things you notice about Vietnam is motorcycles. They are everywhere and they are noisy. It's the preferred way of transportation because they are affordable to most people. Cars are expensive here because of tariffs. There are buses but I see very few of them.


It costs only 3,000 dongs (about 20 cents) to take a bus anywhere but my colleagues in the office tell me that you have to watch out for pickpockets.

One of the things that shocked me is how they have entire families riding on one motorcycle.
In one of the pictures above you can see a family of four getting on a motorcycle. You see one kid sitting in front of the dad who is riding the motorcycle and another kid sandwiched between mom and dad. If that is not bad enough, the kids don't wear helmets! They said that since the helmets can't fit the kids' heads, they are exempt from wearing helmets.

They have a helmet law but the helmets that the motorcyclists and their passengers wear are a joke. Some of them are no more that baseball helmets. I don't think that's going to protect their heads in an accident. I hate to see an accident involving one with kids.

Fortunately, I see very few accidents in spite of the way Vietnamese drive or ride. They don't follow traffic rules or look out for other cars. At an intersection, whoever is braver and charges forward gets to move through. Many times in taxis, I thought the taxi-driver was going to hit someone but the car or motorcycle would just stop. Amazingly, they accept it and don't get angry at each other. I've never seen someone yelling at the other driver/rider or pointing the finger at them. That's how they all drive and they just accept it.

With so many motorcycles, where do they park? Interestingly, a lot of restaurants or cafes have motorcycle valets. It's a free service.

They also use motorcycles to carry everything. It's their delivery vehicle. I've seen some amazing loads carried by these motorcycles. I will try to take pictures of these delivery motorcycles when I get a chance.

I've been debating on renting a motorcycle to get around. Some friends say it's fun. Some say it's dangerous. I'm going to wait until I gather enough courage and maybe rent one for a weekend and see how I do. I'll probably get stuck in traffic for a long time for obeying the rules and being too courteous.