It's hardly noon and we've already had quite the day! We woke up this morning and watched the sunrise over the ocean, and both commented on how it was hard to believe we were in Vietnam, looking at the South China Sea. We were quickly thrown back into the reality of Vietnam once we rented our motorbike for the day and started off! The plan was to go to 2 different sand dunes, a waterfall, and just explore. As you know we owned a scooter and also drove one around Honduras, however, driving motorbikes here is a completely different experience for many reasons. 1) They are small and have small tires which Jason said made it more difficult, 2) They are manual transmission! Which took some getting used to, there were a lot of screeech/jerk forward moments as Jason got used to it. Also the rear brake is a foot brake, and the front brake is hand. 3) We're driving in Vietnam, which means it's a free-for-all. The road is divided into 2 lanes to be used as each individual chooses. Beyond that it's a maze of other motorbikes, trucks, bikes, people on foot, and animals wandering in front of you on the street. If someone is coming towards you or you hear a horn, you move right. And it seems to work in theory until.....
someone is driving right at you on a dirt road on the far right side and isn't moving!
About 12 miles away from where we were staying we were exploring a small town and driving down a dirt road, when 2 guys on a motorbike were on our side of the road coming at us. It was unclear what they were doing or if they would move, and got close enough that Jason made a sharp right turn. Moments later we were skidding across the gravely road on our sides. Once we and the bike came to a halt we were surrounded by locals coming to help and make sure we were ok. One women had some type of green ointment she was putting all over our gashes and the guys that almost hit us were picking up our bike. Before we knew it we were each on the back of a bike heading to the local clinic where they fixed us right up for less than $2! We're ok, but kinda beat up. I have a pretty deep gash in my right arm and a good scrape on my leg, along with some road rash. Jason's injuries were wider-spread but not as deep, with a big scrape on his hand, and scrapes down his right side, elbow, and knee. We were pretty embarressed (even though it was not Jason's fault!), but everyone was so helpful! The guys who took us to the clinic brought out bike to the shop to get air in the tire and then sent us on our way. We barely made it home because of the busted tire, but are only having to pay about $30 to fix the bike, and less than $4 to fix ourselves :)
Unfortunately this means we can't get in the ocean any more, so we'll spend the next few days sitting on the beach with some beer. Oh and the worst part is our camera broke! Not from the crash, it just stopped working, so we have no pictures of the crash or clinic or people that helped us. Don't worry though, we're fine!!! Just a little embarressed and beat up :-/
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Please stay off of self-driven motor vehicles from here on out....a water buffalo sounds about right....ummm, maybe not! :)
ReplyDeleteNice... who taught that kid to drive? Did you not read my last posting or e-mail... specifically, the "BE SAFE" part? I get the too small tires part though as I understand the physics of that.
ReplyDeleteLooks like my mountain biking injuries with the Gauze and Wraps... be sure to get it cleaned out good. Then... shake it off! Too many places to go and things to do. Have fun. -- DAD
No broken bones, sprains etc? Did either of you hit your head? I'm so glad you are ok. It sounds like the people there are very sweet. I hope the clinic was clean. It sounds like you were taken care of well.
ReplyDeleteHope you guys have your one mishap out of the way.
Love you bunches! Mom
Lol... contrary to how it probably looks, my driving was not the problem here. Driving the bike was no big deal... we easily navigated the busy streets, stop lights, and people driving down the wrong side of the road throughout the city. Even the manual transmission was no problem, it was a tad jerky especially in downshifts (partly me, partly because it had 40k+ miles on it) but I felt totally fine driving it and wouldn't hesitate to get on one again.
ReplyDeleteThe problem was we were coming over a small hill on a dirt road and there was a guy driving the wrong way. That's fine, I had put about 20 miles on the bike so far and was used to that... but then he started to cross in front of us. On the dirt braking wasn't an option, so I had to either hit him or turn. I turned right as little as I thought I could to avoid hitting him, but with the dirt, hill, and small tires it was just too much. We just barely avoided sliding into them though, so given the options I would do the same thing again.
Nothing major, Mom =) I jammed my wrist a bit and have some sweet strawberries but I'm feeling 95% today, and feel great. Better than I did the 2 weeks before I left, lol. Michelle is quite sore, but she's hanging in. We're going to the bigger clinic here in a few minutes to rebandage, we'll let ya know how it all looks!