The GCW Tour, Vietnam: Lessons Learned (So Far)

Vietnam runs on two wheels. From infants to ancients, everyone's on a bicycle or scooter.









The Vietnamese can certainly rock the riding gear.

We were apparently not the only brothers to see the Top Gear Vietnam special and decide that this was something needing to be done.

If you can pick it up, you can carry it on a scooter -- even if it takes two or three extra people to help you pick it up. So far we've seen scooters carrying (not all at the same time) a dozen piglets, one very large pig, ten or so large bags of fertilizer, twenty foot lengths of rebar, lots of chickens, four people, and eight truck tires. 

On a trip like this it takes one day to identify the things you should've brought but didn't, two days to identify the things you brought but should've left behind, and three days to figure out how to pack it all properly for a comfortable ride regardless.

If you're traveling through Vietnam and aren't impressed by the scenery, wait fifteen minutes and it will change to something more striking. (I'll post some more proof later.)

There are still people in the world for whom traditional dress means clothing, not costume.

I couldn't be Vietnamese. I can't get my body into this position in the first place, much less stay in it for extended periods.

Dave is the world's greatest icebreaker.

Kids are awesome (and water buffaloes are pretty cool, too.)

When you're enjoying your first motorcycle ride in two decades or more, trying not to get hit, trying not to hit anybody else, waving at the kids who are waving at you, and assessing whether what you're seeing needs to be photographed (it does) enough to make it worth stopping to dig out the camera (okay, maybe not), there's not really a lot of head space left for tumors, scan results, neuropathy, or anything else outside of the immediate experience. For this reason alone, I'd highly recommend a trip of the sort for anyone wanting to get out of their head. 

And though I have no easily accessible photographic evidence at the moment, the experience so far suggests that the Vietnamese are some of the friendliest people in the world.