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Man I don't even know where to start here......
Motorbikes. Motorbikes are an essential part of living in Vietnam. Their cheap to maintain, easy to ride, and capable of caring insanely precarious loads. They are also unassumingly dangerous. Lack of knowledge for two-wheel motoring can be a recipe for disaster, as I found out. Last month, I was coming home from a lovely sushi dinner with Emily and Simon. Crossing through an intersection I usually cross 2-3 times a day, a guy (didn't see him) cuts across the front of my bike and hits my front tire. I panic and grab both front and rear brakes. For those of you unfamiliar with Yamaha Nuovo 125 Automatic, the front brake is a drilled disc break that is much too powerful for any kind of real use. As a consequence, the front wheel locks up and tosses me clean off the bike. I land hard on my left side, which breaks my collar bone and scrapes the shit out of my leg/foot/elbow and puts me in a rather unpleasant amount of pain. I somehow manage to drive the bike home (shock is a wonderful thing) even though I have no memory of it as I sit here. Jeff takes me to the hospital in a cab (I read yesterday in the Vietnam News Daily that only 5% of people in accidents get taken by ambulance) and they fix me up. To Jeff I will be eternally grateful. The taxi ride to the hospital was rough, without him there I don't know what I would have done. Also huge thanks to Emily and Simon for coming to the hospital as soon as they heard (even though it was 4am). It's a special thing when your friends show they care about you.
It took about a month for my arm and scrapes to heal. I'm still working some soreness out of my shoulder, doing some light rehab work with it. I am getting going back to the motorbiking. Not having a bike here is unacceptable. taking taxis and xe oms everywhere is not a sustainable option. Furthermore, I love it. There really is nothing more fun then cruising around the city. I am also nervous, understandably so, but I feel as though I have a new-found respect for riding.
In other news:
I recently went on vacation with a girl I've been seeing. Her name's Emmy and she's from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I was dumbfounded to discover that she has never been to the Outer Banks (seriously, what's up with that?) I felt pretty bad because I got hurt a few days after we started dating, but she was super cool in dealing with my broke self. We planned a week beach trip to Phu Quoc back when I was still messed up (something nice to look forward to, instead of the daily needs of changing bandages and trying to bathe). Phu Quoc is a Vietnamese controlled island in the Gulf of Thailand, and is actually closer to Cambodia then Vietnam, go figure. The flight from HCMC is only 40 minutes (feels more like 20) and is insanely cheap for how great a vacation it is.
The island is largely uninhabited, the roads outside the town are unpaved. There is an airport, a military base on the north end, and that's about it. We talked to an American veteran who was staying at the same resort as us. He was stationed in Phu Quoc during the war and told us it hasn't changed much in 40 years (although in the future that will probably not be true- lots of development is in the planning stages). We stayed on the back beach, a long stretch of sand that runs from the town all the way down the eastern side of the island. We stayed right in a bungalow right on the beach and did....(wait for it).....nothing! The week was a series of lazy transitions between sleeping, reading, swimming, eating, and drinking. The only venture we made around the island was to a place called Sao Beach where we did more of the above. As far as beaches go, it's as good as it gets: palm trees, white sand, warm water, spectacular sunsets, etc. etc. It was a completely relaxed, zero-stress vacation, which is just what we needed.
Rainy season can't come soon enough, although I imagine I'll regret those words later. April and May have been stupid hot and it'd be nice to have some rain to cool things down.
Can't believe it's already May, can't believe I've been here 9 months. I guess I didn't even realize it until I talked to my friend Meg. She left S. Korea a few months before I left for Vietnam and she's almost done with her year contract. I am dumbfounded as to how fast this year has gone. As of right now I have some job applications out to schools in Japan. The weird thing is that even though I'd love a chance to go to Japan, a significant part of me wants to stay in Vietnam. I could spend another year here and be able to save some money. Japan's not going anywhere, and they will always need English teachers. It seems like a smart call to stay, maybe get my CELTYL certification because the school will help pay for it. Plus the more experience I get teaching the better.
That's all for now, if you want to see my vacation pictures check out Flickr, my screen name is Imagination Industries, add me as a contact or something. The photo upload process for TravelBlog isn't working right now. Love to you all.
-Spencer
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