The Streets of Vietnam

[MichaelJ]

Hasn't changed much - 1967

[Surly]

Thanks for posting those
Reminds me of a guy on Koh Tao I saw hauling a few hundred coconuts

[NSFW]

Amazing to see how they put the 2-wheels into practical use, many are even beyond our imaginations.

Very interesting report.

[Raymee]

On a trip to Vietnam last year..
Check out the blue framed kiddie seat!

[Misery Goat]

Hue City

[Houseofdon]

Amazing! A good friend of mine spent a year in Cambodia and, knowing I'm a rider, would always tell me about how fascinating the bikes and riders were there. Nice to finally put some pictures to what she described.

[Josh69]

Olympic Torch Relay, a few hours ago in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

[Josh69]

And the Olympic Torch goes past.

[HikerGPS]

Really interesting pictures.

Recently I stumbled across YouTube videos of traffic over there (specific to 2-wheelers) and I can't get over the relative controlled chaos that seems to exist there. Everybody's crammed along side each other, yet, they're all going about their business as cool as can be.

Like someone else said, one wonders if our roads will look like that in a few years if gas prices continue to rise like they are...

Thanks for sharing these.

[Misery Goat]

HCMC

[Irish John]

When I was "in country" '70-'72, you saw more bicycles in Saigon/HCMC. I was amazed the first time I went back in the late 80's how many motorcycles and scooters there were.

I remember thinking what a beautiful country RVN was on those early morning flights out on a mission. It still is, the people are great as is the food and I highly reccomend it as a travel destination.

Thanks for the photos.

[DavidW]

I ordered a bunch of gear from Aerostitch a couple of years ago one thing which I ordered which wasn't on my list was something which I noticed on the web site and was fasinated by and I had to order it was a book titled "Bikes of Burdern". A photo book of the two wheeled culture of Viet Nam.

http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/...n-p-17868.html

One thing I noticed in the pictures of that book , in several pictures in this thread and on some travel shows on tv is the number of people wearing mask. More often than not they appear to be surgical mask. Not always in city traffic either , sometimes they were pictures in rural areas or on boats or other open air looking areas.

So, does anyone know what's up with the wearing of mask ?

Irish John- I had somewhat the same experience from trips to the Netherlands. First went there in 1980 and everyone was on bicycles. Didn't go back for 20 years. Been back half a dozen times since about 2000 . I was amazed at the number who have switched to mopeds or scooters. Although there are still a lot of bicycles but the mopeds can ride the bicycles paths and they sneak up on you faster than the bicycle riders.

Josh-Thanks for posting the pictures.

David

[Josh69]

It's usually women who wear masks - I think the reason is to have as little exposed flesh as possible (the exact opposite of the mini-dress girl in the 2nd photo of this thread though!) as pale skin (ie little suntan) is valued. For the same reason arm coverings are also worn. If surgical masks are worn, it's men who tend to wear these and it's probably to keep out road fumes.

[Josh69]

More masks

[habanero]