All Entries Tagged With: "motorbike diaries"

Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 17

Rush Hour

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
Resistance is Futile – Assimilation
I’m not sure how it happened, but I’ve become one of them. I wear a jacket (which I’m boiling in), a mask, a poncho, ….I’m a Vietnamese motorbike driver. I’ve become used to being squeezed into small places and driving through them. I [...]

Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 16

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
You won’t believe your eyes this week!  I’ve collected some of my recent motorbike photography that will amaze and baffle you.  After living here for a year, I’m still absolutely dumbfounded and tickled by what I see the Vietnamese strap to their motorbikes.  The motorbike culture here is [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 15

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
What’s in a Name?
I’m going to state the obvious – I’m a girl. What I mean by that is I can exhibit typical girl traits at times; especially when it comes to my knowledge of cars. As long as I can remember, I’ve never really been interested in [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 14

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
The Great Horn Divide
No matter how hard I try, I just can’t do it. I lose the mental battle every time. I tell myself to be calm, patient, understanding – but then it happens – BEEP, BEEP BEEEEEP, BEEP, BEEP; and after the 3rd time of being serenaded [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 13

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
The power of the hand…
I hopped on my motorbike tonight at 8:30 PM to find out that my headlight no longer worked. It would only work when I throttled the bike up – but after I slowed down, the light went out. This created an interesting strobe effect [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 12

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
Mirror Mirror on the motorbike, what is your purpose; are you just there for decoration? Unfortunately after driving a motorbike in HCMC for the last 3 months, I feel as if I’m the only person here who uses my motorbike mirrors for their intended purpose; to see things [...]

A Little Rant About Traffic

Pecking Order
One of the disadvantages of living a solo life is that when you have one of those experiences that you just want to tell someone about – there’s normally no one around to listen. So, instead of bottling it all in, I blog; which makes me feel as if I’m telling someone the story, [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – vol. 11

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
What the Helllllllmet?
Whenever I get on my bike and take off into the street I always have a small wave of panic come over me. I feel like I forgot something. I feel strangely exposed; one might say naked. Then the beeping horns jolt me back into the [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 10

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Patience and the Law
I drove over to my favorite cheap eats restaurant in the Backpacker Area in District 1, Lam Café on Bui Vien Street. When I say cheap eats…I mean it…I can get lemon grass beef with rice and a mango smoothie for $2 US. Change [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 9

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
View photography of motorbikes in rainy season!
Poncho Fashion
Move over Project Runway, Vietnam has Project Poncho!  Ok, I am joking, however it would be a great idea for a show here!  There is one thing that I like about the rainy season , the ponchos. There is a whole [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 8

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
My motorbike license recently arrived proving that bribing officials here actually works. See, you learn something new every day in Vietnam. Of course the whole license is in Vietnamese and I can’t read a thing but my name. For all I know the rest could say “Sucker! This [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 7

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
I’m on the road and my motorbike is parked in my living room having a vacation!  I thought I would put out this post though since it pertains to motorbikes and Vietnam.  Stay tuned for more Motorbike Diaries and travel posts when I return from my trekking in [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 6

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
It’s the weekend and that means that it’s time to get on my motorbike again and join the sea of 2 wheels. I’d like to say that it was easier this time, but I don’t know that it was. It was a good practice session though and I [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 5

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
The motorbike has been rather stationary lately. Very stationary. Okay – I haven’t moved it for 5 days. How did a whole week go by and I haven’t touched the bike? Fear, laziness, excuses, tired; all of the above. I’ve been focused on other becoming legal instead.
License to [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 4

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
Sunday…today is the day it has to happen. No rain, no motorbikes in my way, just the hot sun beating down on the pavement and the open road beckoning me for adventure. Well, actually I’d like to believe that it was beckoning me…but it was hard to hear [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 3

Start from the Beginning - Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
Obstacles. Today was the day, the day I was supposed to take the motorbike out and practice. Yet from the moment I stepped outside today I had obstacles in my way. In my little alleyway that leads to my apartment were about 15 parked motorbikes. Somehow the two [...]

The Motorbike Diaries – Vol. 2

Start from the Beginning – Motorbike Diaries Vol. 1
There is a motorbike in my living room. Don’t worry, I put it there on purpose, I didn’t drive through a wall or anything. It’s just sitting there, paid for, looking at me as if it were a piece of furniture. It’s kind of like the baby [...]