Vietnam Motorcycle Diaries
by projecthitchhiker on October 9, 2007
in Motorcycling, Southeast Asia, Stories
Tet holidays in Vietnam and everything shuts down for a good ten days. My good friend Marc and I used the opportunity last year to do a trip to “the end of Vietnam,” meaning the southernmost tip. Having never really rode my motorbike more than around the block before, I was thrilled at the proposal.
I only really “crashed” once, and it was into a river. After boarding a mini ferry, I went to get off of my bike and my foot got caught on the baggage attached to the bike rack. I lost my balance, tipped the bike on it’s side on the ferry, which tossed me clear into the river head first. The locals, who had likely never seen other foreigners traveling those dirt paths, didn’t laugh. They just looked concerned and bewildered as Marc and I cracked up.
Other follies include our celebration at achieving the Southernmost Point Goal: Marc decided to take off his shoes and walk in the tidal mud. He made it a whole three steps before slicing his foot open quite badly on a barnacle. There’s a picture of him lying down getting his foot cleaned up at the “doctor’s office.” There’s no picture of my folly, as my camera fell in the water with me and had to be dried out…