The Streets of Vietnam

[Josh69]

Photographs from The Streets of Vietnam

[Josh69]

I've been living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for a year and a few months. This has been the year when after having had a motorbike learners permit in my home in Australia but never having followed thorough with it, I finally got around to getting a motorcycle license.

Vietnam is a wonderful country to ride a motorcycle. Most of the traffic on the roads are motorbikes. On smaller rural roads almost all of the traffic is 2-wheel.

Motorbikes are an integral part of the Vietnamese economy. The per-capita GDP of Vietnam is still under US$800pa (rising to about $2000pa in the HCMC region) so people just can't afford cars. But more than that, Vietnamese like riding motorbikes. If you see Viet Kieu (returned Vietnemese from places like the US) who come back to Vietnam, they don't buy a flash car - they buy a flash motorbike.

Bikes are used to transport everyone and everything. From market goods to building materials, they all go on the back of bikes.

These are photos from the Streets of Vietnam.

[Josh69]

The first thing to remember about riding a bike in Vietnam is it can be dangerous. Out of nowhere you can get moving hazards which just do not exist in our industralised, westernised countries.

You may be riding along, minding your own business when out of the blue, something comes along which requires immediate action:

[Josh69]

Bikes are often put on promotional displays in shopping centres.

And obviously with the malarky like in the picture above going on in Vietnamese roads, these promotional displalys are a good opportunity to promote correct use of protective boots and leathers for motorcycle use. All she needs is a helmet and jacket and she's all set:

[Josh69]

Anyway, enough silly stuff.

Bikes get used to transport just about everything in Vietnam and they frequently carry more stuff on the back of a bike than you would put in an SUV back home.

Here are some examples, including this one which I have copied from my earlier trip report:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=329194

Pottery transport:

[Whitey1]

Originally Posted by Josh69

The first thing to remember about riding a bike in Vietnam is it can be dangerous. Out of nowhere you can get moving hazards which just do not exist in our industralised, westernised countries.

You may be riding along, minding your own business when out of the blue, something comes along which requires immediate action:

Is that a still photo or is that a blinkie? I think something just winked at me!

[Josh69]

Last time I worked in Australia, bottles for the water coolers got delivered by truck. Bike is a good way to reduce our CO2 emissions:

[Josh69]

How about 2-up with a split system air-conditioner and a bottle of refigerant?

[JJMSP]

Reminds me of my visit to Korea. The two best were the 5 full length of carpet rolls stack straight up behind the rider. The other great sight was 27 cases of beer - could not tell if empty or full bottles. The live stock was sad to see. Many pics taken of all of this creative hauling by motor bike and scooter.

[Josh69]

I know what you mean. I missed a couple of good shots before I routinely started carrying around a camera - a 2 bikes each with a 1000-litre stainless steel water tank in formation and a bike with 3 x queen size bed mattresses on the back.

[Josh69]

Moderately efficient transport; two TVs on one bike:

[Josh69]

More efficient; three TVs on one bike:

[Josh69]

Anyone know what this tyre is for - it doesn't look like a truck tyre?

[Josh69]

Soldier stops for a mobile phone chat, Hanoi, Tet 2008.

[cojoel]

Great pictures!!! Keep it coming.