Getting to work

I am happy to report that the crutches are gone and I can move around freely now. I cannot express how happy this makes me as there are stairs everywhere in Vietnam, this coupled with very narrow doorways and 1940's style crutches do not mix to well.

Losing the crutches also meant that I could start working so I put my CV out and within a day had found enough hours to comfortably cover our expenses. Duncan will be lecturing hospitality at a business school, and I am teaching English in a high school during the day and at a University in the evenings.

 

Last week Saturday was my first day at the high school. It's outside of the main city so a taxi worked out to be quite pricey. There and back was a full hours pay! This definitely won't do ... it's time to do as the locals do and catch a motorbike taxi!

On Tuesday I braved this idea and caught my second motorbike taxi (the first being when I was taken off to the "doctor" with a dodgy leg). After riding on the back of motorbikes for the past week, I have come up with ....

 

Kate's top 10 tips for catching a motorbike taxi in Vietnam!

 

1. NEVER get off a motorbike on the right hand side.

No one told me this, I have learnt this from experience. The reason being is that the exhaust pipe is on the right hand side and when disembarking the motorbike it WILL burn the hell out of your leg and leave a huge red burn mark with a blister that looks awful. Not only is it uncomfortable, it's embarrassing as the locals/students know immediately how that mark got on your leg.

 

2. Just because a road says "one-way" does not mean it is a one-way.

When riding on a motorbike taxi, the driver will always try to get you to your destination on time. This means that he WILL drive down the wrong way of a highway to save 4 minutes, as I learnt on Wednesday. Do not act alarmed, as your driver will think you are running late and speed up down the wrong way of a one-way. Don't feel guilty about this either, the other drivers on the road are quite used to this happening and will happily move out of your way. Should you hit another motorbike that is coming out of a side road and didn't look right (as it is a one-way) do not apologise, give them a dirty look and shake your head disapprovingly - as my taxi driver did.

 

3. Always take the height of the passengers/objects on the motorbike into account.

Thankfully, I didn't learn this from being on a motorbike. Duncan and I were walking to a cafe to get breakfast when a motorbike passed us. The driver in the front, two huge advertising boards in the middle and a passenger on the back. The driver obviously forgot about the advertising boards as he drove underneath an awning. It was a hysterical sight, the boards hit the awning and pushed the passenger back. The passenger did a slow-mo matrix style arm flapping backwards lean and recovered without falling off, the boards went flying off the motorbike, almost hit a granny sitting underneath the awning (she did not even flinch), the passenger had no idea what was going on, the driver picked up the boards, put them on the bike, gave the shop owner a dirty look and drove away. I wish I had had a video recorder on me, it would have been a YouTube hit!

 

4. If possible, take your own helmet.

This rule only applies to westerners. Every motorbike taxi driver will carry a second helmet for his passengers, however, they are not guaranteed to fit your western style head. The result is that you look like a character from the movie Cone Heads and get to your destination with a massive red line around the circumference of your head.

 

5. Wear sunglasses.

This is especially important if your journey is more than 5 minutes long and you will be going above 30 km/ph. You don't want to arrive with dry, red eyes full of dust and whatever else is floating around out there.

 

6. Choose your driver carefully.

When picking a taxi driver, it is best to choose one that is normal Vietnamese size and not Western size. Balance on a motorbike is key, and I find you will have better balance when sitting with your legs at a "5 minutes to 1" angle - this is achieved through a Vietnamese sized driver. A western sized driver means that you will be sitting behind him with your legs at a "10 minutes to 2" angle and much further back on the seat, which is just awkward. Due to having less seat space, it means every time you stop you will head butt the driver on the back of the head. Thankfully, that particular ride was only 5 minutes long.

 

7. Negotiate the price BEFORE getting onto the motorbike.

Generally, motorbike taxi's are 1/5th of the price of a normal taxi so you will be saving money anyway, but it is best to negotiate the price anyway as they always quote you way above the actual cost. I find the best way to do this is to find two motorbike taxi's near each other. Approach one and get a price, say it is too expensive. Approach the other and get a price. The 1st driver will become jealous and shout out a new price, the second driver wants your business too. Let them negotiate each others prices down while you sit back and smile. When I first went to work, I paid 4 dollars for the motorbike, I am now paying 2 dollars.

 

8. Not everybody is a taxi driver.

I left work on Thursday and looked around for  motorbike taxi but there weren't any. No problem, there will be some on the main road. While I was walking, a man on a motorbike stopped and said something in Vietnamese. I gave him an address. He said something in Vietnamese, I said something in English. This went on for a while and I put on my helmet. He showed me his phone, I showed him an address. Confusion. Thankfully a colleague who can speak basic Vietnamese walked past and asked if I was OK. After chatting to the man it turned out that he was asking me for money, I was asking him for a lift and we had confused the hell out of each other. Lesson learnt. Not everybody is a taxi driver - and they will generally wear a blue shirt if they are one.

 

9. Lose your personal space issue.

There are so many people on motorbikes in the city that where ever you go, you will be rubbing knee's with strangers on motorbikes. The trend is to get as close as possible to the traffic light when it is red. This means you will scrape cars while squeezing through, accidentally knock people's elbows, have your feet touching the feet of another passenger, etc. Pretty much anything goes and no one gets offended. It's a beautiful thing when you get used to it :)

 

10. Find a game to distract you while on the road.

In the beginning, being a passenger on a motorbike taxi is pretty scary. The rules of the road are different and there are always so many people around you. I found that by having a game to play that distracts you makes the ride less intimidating. My personal favourite is "The missing shoe." Basically, all you do is see how many random, lonely shoes are lying in the middle of the road, lost by the owner (probably from someone knocking it off while squeezing through to the traffic light). So far, I have counted eleven in one trip. But I am pretty sure I will reach a higher number soon. There are abandoned shoes in the middle of the road everywhere, it seems to be a common problem. A good variation of the game is to spot a driver missing a shoe. So far I have only seen one.

 

These are the valuable lessons learnt so far, remember them if you come and visit us!