ah vietnam
trying to cross the street
honda honda honda
parking
neat parking
ha-ko-buApparently they call motorbikes "honda", it doesn't matter if it's yamaha, kawasaki, suzuki or vespa, they are all honda in Vietnam. And they are EVERYWHERE, and EVERYONE is on it including babies and live chikens. Sometimes you see a whole family riding on one bike, father, mother and two kids squashed together. Crossing the streets was a real hassle, I thought I wouldn't be able to come home alive at the beginning but hey I got the hang of it and became so good at it in the end. Never panic or run but be calm, put your chin up and walk slowly passing the honda one by one. That was the trick I learned.

It seemed as though there are no rules on the streets (I even saw a honda driving the wrong way on the highway), but when it comes to parking they were so neat that it got me surprised. There are so so many bicycles parked on the streets in Japan, but often they are terrible. Getting better these days, but still they beat us.

10 comments

  1. great photos. i visited vietnam again last year and loved it.

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  2. oh, your photos of taiwan and vietnam are pure joy - thankyou!! very, very beautiful images of beautiful, and intriguing places. i love your story of finding the best way to handle vietnam's roads - i agree! keep calm and carry on desu ne:) and everybike a honda is sooo good. i stayed in an aboriginal community in the centre of australia and every car there was a toyota, or 'toyoda' no matter what the kind of car. was great:)

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  3. That is so interesting that they park them so neatly!

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  4. wow! interesting. i'm loving these pictures, too.

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  5. I am travelling thanks to you... thank you !

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  6. not sure how i found your blog, but i was stunned by your great photos, reminds me of my trip to vietnam!!
    また遊びに来ます!

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  7. Hi Chi Designs,
    when i was in hanoi i thought i'd had enough, but now i kind of miss it and am thinking i wouldn't mind going back!

    アロン、
    よるになると、もっと、もーっとたくさんいるよ!

    hi bree,
    i love that toyota (or toyoda) story of the aboriginal community! isn't that great! haha i really like that :)

    hi alice,
    i know i know i thought it was really interesting, it was the same in Taipei. unbelievably neat!

    hi Anna,
    i've got lots more to show you so be ready ;)

    hi Marion,
    yea i know what you mean i do that all the time visiting other people's blogs ;)

    hi world of sekimachihato,
    i'm happy you found me yay! where did you go in vietnam? また来てくださいね!

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  8. a bit late... but i was in ho chi minh city when i was in vietnam.
    hope to visit hanoi too one day!

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  9. Your blog is full of artistic picture and I love it a lot. I'm from Vietnam and it's great to see some pieces of Vietnam over here. Yah traffic in my country is really an issue, but actually the way people park neatly is because of on most of the street, there is a service to watch your vehicles when you do your stuff around, and the guards have to arrange them so that they can control the motorbikes and keep space for additional one. By the way, people just call "xe may" for motorbikes, it's the pure translation of motorbikes, rather than calling it Honda. It's just the fact that Honda is the most popular brand of motorbike in VN

    I'm glad that you enjoyed your trip. Come back here one day :D

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your kind words are always welcome and appreciated! arigato :)

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