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Published: November 6th 2009
is that enough mopeds?
try stepping out in front of this.... on second thoughts, kids, dont try that at home.Predictable title I know, but I’ve always wanted a purpose to say that!
So, we are in HCMC, actually to be precise I am writing this from the worlds coolest bus, seriously, it’s a sleeper bus so its full of beds instead of seats, we’ve only been on here 10 minutes and mick is already snoring, (apart from the noise) I’m loving this bus.
I actually wrote this huge blog last night, stayed up til the wee hours of the morning producing a flat out masterpiece and the damn site crashed as I pressed submit. I was not a happy camper (tanty began to brew) but have calmed down this morning and am determined to make it just as good.
So I’ve been trying to come up with one word to sum up this place….busy? well yes, but that certainly doesn’t cut it, crazy, hell yes, but still not doin it for me….maybe; insane? Still doesn’t cut it, but will do til I find the right word. I could happily spend a year of my life just sitting by the side of the road watching the traffic go by, content in my knowledge that its officially the most amusing thing I’ve
who needs a ute?
the versatility of these bikes is incredible. Carry anything you like, it'll fit no worries. ever seen. Apparently there are 6 million mopeds in the city alone, can you believe that? For those of you playing at home…that’s a hell of a lot of mopeds! I’m pretty sure we saw all 6 mil of them going around the one round-a-bout all at once yesty. Just In our first day we witnessed mopeds carrying; a fridge, a coffee table, one of those height, weight ratio stands that you see at the airports, 3 dogs and a family of five, that’s right, 5! Infact the strangest thing you’ll see around here would be a lone rider carrying nothing. I don’t think I’d ever tire of watching it, seriously it doesnt get old, it just gets funnier by the minute. So watching it is one thing, but eventually it came time to ‘cross’ the road (it had to happen sooner or later, there’s only so much you can do on one side of the road) that’s where skill really comes into it. Can you imagine the adrenalin as you step out in front of 6 million motorbikes?? Just to give you an idea; red lights, stop signs and pedestrian crossings are all only there for a guide. From
friendly locals
Hello Mr Cyclo Rider! What a friendly fellow what I can tell, they’re just there incase somebody feels like having a random law abiding day, but if you step onto a zebra crossing, do not expect them to stop. We decided to take the guide books advice and cross side by side with a local, as they obviously know what they’re doing. We jostled up beside a middle aged Vietnamese woman thinking she looked like a safe bet. She stepped straight out infront of a 4wd and got so close she actually fell over backwards, she may have even been hit by the mirror. She picked herself up, laughed and soldiered on like she was being cast for a role in the next ‘frogger’ video game, talk about a professional. After a few squeals, ‘holy craps’ and ‘oh my God we’re gonna die’s’ we made it to the other side. I was so excited to be alive that I wanted to go back and do it again. Apparently the trick is to be predictable, keep the same pace, keep the same direction and they will go around you.
Well that’s probably enough traffic talk, should we talk about the weather now? Actually there’s nothing to tell, its hot,
has this really been widened?
Mick contemplating whether he'll fit down one of the secret tunnel entrances....is it supposed to be such a tight fit?? not as humid as I thought and we haven’t had any rain despite 90 vietnamese being killed in the Typhoon the other day, it’s nothing but sunshine here!
Okay so on to day one. We arrived into hcmc on Wednesday morn after a really smooth overnight flight. The hotel is nice, smallish room, but nice. There are 78 tv channels, so cant complain about that. Breakfast at the hotel consists of a random selection of dishes, none of which seem to fall in to the usual breakfast category. As I filled up my plate with hotdog spaghetti (yes spaghetti with pieces of savaloy through it) I’m thinking to myself, ‘do they seriously think this is what westerners eat for brekky?’ I’m guessing the fact that I’m filling my plate with it, probably confirms that for them. But hey, it was either that or some strange prawn concoction.
We decided to visit the War Remnants Museum to check out the facts about the Vietnam War. The guide book said it was gruesome (which is one of the reasons we wanted to check it out…I know, we’re sick individuals) and they were right. We’d had enough gore before too long and
I'm in!
who said I wouldnt fit? it was actually really depressing. But the worst part is, the horrible stuff that went on then, is still going on today in Iraq, you’d think we would have learnt? There were lots of Americans tourists there looking rather mortified as they copped the blame for everything, it may have been a little one sided or bias but what would you expect when you’re in their country? While we’re speaking of war (but on a less serious note) I totally got to shoot a gun yesty….woohoo!! We took a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels to check out where the Viet Cong spent 10 years hiding underground in more than 200kms of tunnels under the city. It’s a maze of tunnels all on varying levels which allowed them to secretly get from point a to point b aswell as house hospitals etc, it was a way of life.
We got to the entrance of the tunnels and I had full intentions of entering, this section was only 100 meters long and had been enlarged for fat tourists like us, so I thought it’d be easy. I tried 3 times to go through, each time going a little further, but when
I'm in too!
this took me a couple of tries cos my damn short arse legs struggled to reach the ledge below it got too dark to see the end, I backed outta there faster than the speed of light. Mick was very quick to reassure me that we didn’t ‘have’ to go through, I think there’s more to that than him just being nice….micky the man of steel was slightly freakin out too, what wimps we’ve become. Our tour guide for the day supposedly spoke English, although very few words were identifiable, that was until he saw that mick was wearing a Michael Jackson t-shirt, all of a sudden the guy was yelling ‘all I want to say is that they don’t really care about us’ whilst moon walking. He took his job as a guide very seriously and jumped over the barricades in order to show us exactly how the war traps worked. He was poking at patches of grass with a stick til the grass flipped over revealing huge metal spikes that obviously would kill their prey in an instant. He thought he was doing a great demo job til he cut his finger on a spike. He then made us wait while he first went and got a bandaid, then later when he wanted some ointment, then again
determined
bugger off I can get out on my own...... when he went to see the onsite doctor, honestly, I’ve never seen a guy so upset by a scratch, I’m convinced he was getting ready to put in a compo claim for his newly acquired war injury.
Anyway, after wimping out of the tunnels, it was time to give the weapons a try, yeehah, bring it on! We got to choose between an AK47 and an M60 machine gun…..we chose both! I got a little trigger happy and used nearly all of micks bullets on the AK47, while Mick went all ‘rambo’ on me and seemed to be seriously gettin off on shooting the pretend cows. It was awesome fun, but we could barely hear for the rest of the day, I’m pretty sure those ear muffs were for display only.
Wow, this has turned into one of the longest blogs in history, sorry bout that, I’ve got 4 hours to kill on this comfy bus, so its kinda just flowing, I better stop wasting your time (and procrastinating) and read my damn text book instead, oh yay, what a thrill, I can’t wait (note sarcastic tone)
Will write again from Mui Ne, thanks for reading folks xx
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Mum
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Hello 2 u from down under
How many times have I said don't play with guns huh. and you wonder why I'm grey. Funniest blog I have read for a while great text even better photos guys. Please b careful ok. Missing you both the dogs say Hi. Molly moo and Brown Bindi.