Friday, March 10, 2006
Vietnam, road rules and the shipping news
I was standing on the side of the road for ages trying to photograph a scooter in flight. No mean feat with a digital camera it has to be said, but this is the best I got, and as such I am proud of it!
It is hard to describe how mental the driving in Vietnam is, especially on scooters. The rules of the road such as they are dictate that you only have to wear a helmet on a bike if you are going between towns, not within town. This was explained to me after we witnessed the aftermath of collision between a pick up truck and scooter. We came on the scene in our bus on the road from Nha Trang. The bus slowed and there was nothing to see at first, just a crowd gathered round the scene. But as we got closer we could see the look on most of the faces, and then suddenly through the crowd came a man carrying a corpse of a guy, his head destroyed. There is no other way of describing it. It was just hair and blood. The moment was gone in an instant. The was silence in our bus, but a feeling that it was quite common, almost normal.
The guy beside us who explained about helmets also explained that cars already on the main road are responsible for avoiding what is in front of them. Thus nobody, and I mean nobody from a cyclist to trucker looks or waits to join a stream of traffic, they just drive into it without looking left or right. This ironically makes crossing the road relatively straight forward for a pedestrian who has a bit of nerve. Conversely to execute a lefthand turn (they drive on the right) scooters and even cars will turn onto the main road, driving on the wrong side, waiting for a gap in the traffic inorder to slip accross. In fact it is a good idea to only look where you are going and not behind you to your left or right, because this is where you are most likely to come a cropper, especially as a cyclist!
The guy who explained the rules of the road to me is an Nautical Engineer. He has an interesting job. He refits or 'fixes' brand new ships. A big industry in SE Asia now, particularly Vietnam. His latest was adding another 25 meters length to a brand new Malaysian freighter that had already become too small after the order was completed. The ship was already 180+ meters length (as I remember it) and they were about to lop it in half and add the extra meters smack in the middle,so as they could get a few hundred extra containers in there.
It's OK he said. They know what they are doing. I really amn't that sure anymore!
By the way incase this doesnt work, this was posted by Kevin, but publishd via flickr so it comes up as Sol.
It is hard to describe how mental the driving in Vietnam is, especially on scooters. The rules of the road such as they are dictate that you only have to wear a helmet on a bike if you are going between towns, not within town. This was explained to me after we witnessed the aftermath of collision between a pick up truck and scooter. We came on the scene in our bus on the road from Nha Trang. The bus slowed and there was nothing to see at first, just a crowd gathered round the scene. But as we got closer we could see the look on most of the faces, and then suddenly through the crowd came a man carrying a corpse of a guy, his head destroyed. There is no other way of describing it. It was just hair and blood. The moment was gone in an instant. The was silence in our bus, but a feeling that it was quite common, almost normal.
The guy beside us who explained about helmets also explained that cars already on the main road are responsible for avoiding what is in front of them. Thus nobody, and I mean nobody from a cyclist to trucker looks or waits to join a stream of traffic, they just drive into it without looking left or right. This ironically makes crossing the road relatively straight forward for a pedestrian who has a bit of nerve. Conversely to execute a lefthand turn (they drive on the right) scooters and even cars will turn onto the main road, driving on the wrong side, waiting for a gap in the traffic inorder to slip accross. In fact it is a good idea to only look where you are going and not behind you to your left or right, because this is where you are most likely to come a cropper, especially as a cyclist!
The guy who explained the rules of the road to me is an Nautical Engineer. He has an interesting job. He refits or 'fixes' brand new ships. A big industry in SE Asia now, particularly Vietnam. His latest was adding another 25 meters length to a brand new Malaysian freighter that had already become too small after the order was completed. The ship was already 180+ meters length (as I remember it) and they were about to lop it in half and add the extra meters smack in the middle,so as they could get a few hundred extra containers in there.
It's OK he said. They know what they are doing. I really amn't that sure anymore!
By the way incase this doesnt work, this was posted by Kevin, but publishd via flickr so it comes up as Sol.
// posted by Solène @ Friday, March 10, 2006 
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