i use to ride moped to college everyday so you can call me an intermediate driver. i only fell or crashed twice in my 4 years of riding back then. so when ever i travel, i rent a moped or scooter because that’s the best way to get around, unless you want to be stuck in traffic all day long. i rode in bali for over 15 summers so my level is pretty high. people tell me it’s nuts in indonesia. then before i left japan for vietnam, matsu told me to be careful because there are so many bikes on the road. i told him, “hey, i ride in indo so no problem.” i was wrong!
there are no rules in vietnam, nobody stops for anyone, nobody stops at the traffic signal, nobody rides in the lane, it’s just a crazy mess! it seems like the whole city rides a scooter. and it seems that nobody had drivers education because there are no rules. i rode for 3 days and every time i left my hotel, i thought i would die on a side of some street so i stuck my hawaii drivers license in my pocket so my body can be identified. and no, you don’t need a license to rent a bike in vietnam, all you need is $10/day.
the first day, i rode without my sunglasses and without a mask. when i drove up the first street, i couldn’t see or breath. the air quality in hanoi is pretty bad. so i turned around, grabbed my sunglasses, bought a mask, and blended in the vietnam scooter road. i was weaving in and out of speeding traffic tooting my horn the whole way. people must have thought i was crazy. haha. my scooter was pretty fast and now i thing i moved up a level on the crazy streets of southeast asia.
**if you value your life more than i value mine, you shouldn’t even try to ride a scooter in a southeast asia country. one mistake and your pretty much dead. and if your dead body is lying on the road, people will continue to run your dead ass over and over. and if you try to call the police, good luck. they will just come and take your money. haha.
