Eat My Dust!

Manda writes:

Every morning Mr Moped from downstairs would ask if we would like to hire his motorbike for the day. He's very keen. This morning he didn't even wait until we came out the hotel - Ian stepped out on to the balcony for a yawn and stretch and there he was, two floors down, giving the 'you want moped?' signal (miming opening up the throttle). We took him up on the offer a bit later as we still had a few places to visit and didn't want to join a tour.

Our first stop was China Town, or Cholon as the district is called. Motorbiking around Vietnam cities is definitely an experience. People tend not to wear helmets but what a lot of them do wear are smog masks or scarves that are folded into a triangle and wrapped around their faces like bandits. To complete the incognito look, some don sunglasses and a hat too. All this covering up is not for the sake of blocking out the city's pollution, for in the evening hardly anyone wears one. The masks are purely for sun protection and some ladies even go as far as wearing long silky evening gloves to protect their arms. Barely an inch of skin is exposed.

Asians prefer lighter skin and consider tanned skin as not as attractive. This is why they go to such extreme lengths to cover up. Skin whitening products are sold in abundance here. I guess it is what you don't have that you crave for more. In the same way that Westerners are after that healthy glowing tan.

On the subject of observations.... Some of the Vietnamese ladies wear lovely long dresses called 'au dais'. Imagine a long Chinese dress ('cherny sam'), with a higher split on both sides and a pair of loose fitting trousers underneath. The school children wear pristine white ones that always look spotless and pressed. These dresses look elegant and are practical too. We've noticed that some motorbikes have added hooks on both sides for the ladies to hang their au dais skirts on to stop them from catching in the wheels.

China town is just a collection of streets selling medicine, odds and sods and food. It's difficult to tell where it all starts and where it ends. Unlike China towns in Western cities, there are no gates to indicate that you have arrived. We only knew we'd got there when we heard a smog mask vendor call out 'Ho Peng' ('Very cheap' in Cantonese). Thinking that he could speak fluently, I continued haggling in Cantonese only to find that he could only say a few words. He soon reverted to using his mother tongue. I did not understand enough Vietnamese; English was not good for him and so we resorted to sign language. The next stage after that would have been the calculator but we managed to agree on a price before then!

Our smog masks were used to block out pollution. With half the population on motorised wheels, this seemed like a sensible thing to do and a good way to blend in with the locals!

Saigon is not the easiest place for lip-readers to make a living.

Ben Thien Market was next on the list. We ended up walking straight through it in the end, trying hard not to make any eye contact. Vendors would latch onto your arms trying to guide you into their stalls. With every vendor trying to do the same thing on both sides, this walk soon became a quick march. Since we have been brought up not to ignore people, it was a difficult thing to do at first. But after a while, you just have to be thick-skinned and get on with it. There might have been bargains to be had, but the sales tactic put us off and we made a sharp exit.

In the evening, we took a short ride over to the Rex Hotel. Our Kiwi friends, Barbara and Ted, recommended that we go up to the top to the Garden Rooftop Lounge and have a few beverages there. We could see the People's Committee Building and the square below when we stood up and peered over the tall barriers. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed wine and beer while listening to a Cabaret singer belting out Elvis tracks.

The view from the Rex Hotel roof over the People's Committee Building.

On the way back, our motorbike was playing up. It had been temperamental all day, and had already had a repair earlier on. The gear shifter stopped working soon after we got the bike and had been hanging limply, refusing to budge out of 3rd or 4th gear - and this is not great when you are at the head of a hundred bikes massed at a set of traffic lights. A quick getaway is needed!

Despite the earlier repair works, the bike was still quirky and Ian nearly took out an entire row of bikes that were riding past us as we were about to set off from the pavement. Thinking our bike was in neutral, Ian revved the bike because it was threatening to stall. However, the bike was already in gear and lept out in front, then rose up vertically in a sudden unexpected wheelie. The locals behind us gasped, but luckily Ian had a good hold of the handles and no damage was done. Once we got the bike moving (safely) again, I looked back to see that the locals had given us a wide berth after that fiasco. With my smog mask fastened on securely, I thought, thank goodness they couldn't see my red cheeks!