A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
In Saigon, there are three major ways to get from Point A to Point B if it is too far to walk, or if it's hotter than hell and you want to get to Point B as fast as humanly possible. You can take a taxi -- that's the most expensive way, but it seems so very safe on the road to be inside that car; you can take a cyclo, which is a pedal-powered chair that is usually operated by a political casualty of the Vietnam War and is fairly safe due to its size and the fact that they can't go on many of the busier thoroughfares; or you can take a "Honda Om", which means you hop onto the back of some stranger's motorbike (after negotiating for price) and hold on for dear life. Naturally, when I'm not walking, I generally go by Honda Om, because even at age 35 its enjoyable to give my parents more gray hairs.

Today I selected a little old guy to drive me who was, in contrast to 99.9% of the other drivers on the road, wearing a helmet. Admittedly it was kind of a half-helmet and was held on with one of those baby safety pins, but I still took it as a general statement of his commitment to safety.

To my chagrin, after our one and only stop at an enormous intersection on Le Loi, a major commercial street, we barely paused during the remainder of the ride. He beeped his horn almost constantly, swerved around cars, buses, and other motorbikes, and ran every red light between downtown and Cholon, a 20 minute ride.

My lesson for the day: Helmet usage does not mean "safety conscious". It is more likely to mean "death wish" or "previous head injury."



By the way, I know that "Chinesier" is not a real word (see below), but I liked the sound of it.

© 2002 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 5:40 AM