Dear loved ones!
I have some catching up to do and since the weather is going to be terrible coming five days, I believe I’ll have loads of time to do so. I know this might seem surprising but my next theme is… motorbikes.
Here we go, so as you might have learned from my earlier posts, motorbikes are THE way to get around in Vietnam. The public transport system sucks, the bikes are cheap and any road, no matter how badly maintained, can be driven over with it. As a tourist I have found them a great way to get from one place to another while sightseeing. I would recommend everyone an easy rider tour, really. How no Vietnamese ever gets on a moped without a face mask, reminds me of the SARS days in China. Oh and the amounts of motorbikes you see on the roads is incredibly hard to take in. Each time I cross the road I hold my breath until I reach the other side, feeling very much like singing ’staying alive, staying alive’ when I do. Now what they transport on them is even more surprising: dead buffalo’s or pigs, three big baskets (one on top, two on the sides) filled with ducks or chicken, over three people (even babies) and huge bags with rice, coffee beans or whatever they’re growing. Let me warn you, the most common bruise tourists get in Vietnam is burns from unprotected exhausts. I have fallen victim to them too and I doubt the wound will heal for a while.
Another very common way of getting from A to B here is by… bicycle! The sight of it would make me feel at home if it weren’t for the Ao Dai all the girls attending high school wear (beautiful I’d nearly wish we had uniforms in school like that). Up to now I have rented a bicycle three times and I love to see cities and their countryside from it. Also the traffic doesn’t feel that intimidating when you’re on the very very right side of the road going really really slowly. The first time I took the bike was to the market in Nha Trang, the second time I went with Penny, my friend from New Zealand, to a Mud Spa (very indulging but so so cheap) and the third time we cycled around Hoi An in the rain.
To get back on my earlier post on food I forget to tell you about the bahn xeo. It’s a seafood pancake that you eat with your hands wrapping it into rice paper with cucumber and local leafs and dipping it in some meat sauce. Delicious. I have no other words for it. And yes sugar cane juice. It’s really just pressed sugar cane, totally refreshing and beautifully sweet on hot days.
Love love and love again,
lot
By: Traveler Lotschurin