photos from the back of a motorbike

It is hard to fully communicate the extent to which motorbikes play a role in Vietnam. At any given moment, the putt-putting of little engines (and high-pitched horns to match) outside the internet cafe where I sit is a cacophony. For every car owned in Vietnam, there must be at least 100 motorbikes. And the thing about a nation en-route on the motorbike, is that the rules of the road are different when everyone is not lumbering along 6 lane roads, encased in a bubble of steel which has the power to protect against quite a lot, but more likely can kill. The motorbike is more agile, and slower, and much less threatening. It is also driven by, as far as I can tell, everyone over the age of 15 who can borrow the family bike. There are no lanes, and if there are, they matter very little. You can drive the pace of a bicycle if you'd like, or you can try--probably unsuccessfully--to get all the way up to 50 km per hour (31 mph). So people just do whatever they want. Is there a swarming flow of bikes moving towards you, generally on the right side of the street? do you need to head the other direction down the road? Just go. They'll part for you. Really. Luckily, no one is very worried about going very fast and, unlike drivers in the States, they are hyper-sensitive to the possibility that a bicycle or motorbike might pull out in front of them at any moment.

Well, besides the seemingly insane courage (or simply insanity) that it takes to drive in cities, the motorbike's versatility is also remarkable. It is most people's only transportation, and in fact, since there are so many on the road, it is really frustrating to drive in a car. People carry crops to market, take their children to school, transport their elderly grandparents to the clinic, and rent out their services to carry those without bikes around town on mototaxis. Ryan and I have come to love them almost as much as the Vietnamese, if much more cautiously. Here are some photos taken from the back of one of our motorbikes.

p.s. don't worry, we stay out of the cities and drive very slowly, which, luckily, no one seems to mind.



Here I go. In Quy Nhon, on the central coast of Vietnam, the beach in town was a little dirty, due to the fisherman living and working there, but 20 km outside of town was a beautiful beach, Bai Bau, where we were the only swimmers in the water.






















Ryan has perfect confidence in my driving.
These are all taken outside of town, in the verdant hills surrounding the little port city.
The local gas station, perhaps there's a little mark-up, but it's so much more convenient and doesn't she look like a nice attendant?

Hanoi, Vietnam

"Who loves children more than Uncle Ho?" Nobody. That's who.
Communism lives, my freinds. Propoganda posters line the city streets of Vietnam and loudspeakers still make frequent announcements praising the glory of the great red leaders. (Okay, so it's in Vietnamese and we can't understand it. But, as I've always said, you don't need to understand the language to know that midday messages from loud speakers in a communist country are probably some form of brainwash.)



Beth and Jackie enjoying a traditional Vietnamese dessert.



The Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam.



Bethie's telling a story over our usual morning cup of strong, Vietnamese coffee and fruit juice in a French-influenced cafe. I don't know exactly what she's talking about, but it's probably about food.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Lots of photos of Bethie and Jackie, a Minnesotan we taught with in Korea. I wasn't allowed to be in any photos in Hanoi. Or talk. I was, though, able to carry their bags and pay for most meals. Lucky me.

Beth in Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand

Beth loves food. Our days usually go something like this. We wake up and eat breakfast. Then Beth talks about how good breakfast was, what was in it, how it could be better, and how she can't wait to make some of this stuff on her own. We eat lunch. Then Beth talks about how good lunch was, what was in it, how it could be better, and how she can't wait to make some of this stuff on her own. We eat dinner......



Ryan and some bells.
(Sometimes there really isn't anything interesting to say. I just wanted to post some photos).



A temple in the middle of the city. Cool.



A temple in the middle of the city with us standing in front of it. Also cool.



We saw this big old lizard crawl out of the lake in a park. He was probably about 3 feet long or so, but I didn't get too good a look at it because I was hiding behind Beth.

A few last Korea photos

Once the 6th graders figured out that "Beth and Ryan Teacher is loving," we were the most popular people at school (for the first time ever).



Beth's Scholar class. Funny kids, especially the boys Nick and Tony.



Our boss, Mr. Park. He took us out to lunch our last day of work to say thanks for a good year. We never learned his first name.



The Year 1 Kindergartners: Beth and Ryan Teacher's classes. Racheal and Hunter in Ryan's class (yes, only 2 kids) and Mandy, Claire, Sara, Ray, and Remy in Beth's.



Ryan Teacher's Advanced class. 6th graders. 5 girls and Daniel. For the month or so leading up to our leaving, the kids tried to keep a little going away party a secret. They wanted to discuss it during class, so I gave them about 3 minutes a day (1 per hour of class) to speak in Korean and discuss it. They thought they were so sly and that I had no idea what was going on. At what age do you realize that you can't trick your teacher?

We're in Bangkok!

This place is too fast. Too much hustle and bustle. Everybody is out to make a Baht. You can't trust many people, especially if they're friendly. That's tough. For instance, the tuk tuk driver (a motorcycle with a two-seater behind it) who asked us the ubiquitous, "Where you go?" and then gave us the wrong directions. The very very friendly "security guard" who showed us around a bit and then took us to a great place to get a "free" map of the city which had his name on it (did the tourist office belong to him? did he work there? was he just getting commission). The reasons for this culture are complex but it doesn't make you trust the Bangkok natives anymore. This is an especially strange and extreme transition from Korea, where everyone was extremely trustworthy and their more guilty ulterior motive was their desire to learn English. Very few prices were inflated and Koreans despise tipping and don't pay sales tax; they always turn on the taxi meter and they will chase you down the street to return a dropped wallet.

On the very, very bright side, Bangkok has amazing, and amazingly cheap, street food! It's delcious, it's diverse, and it's everywhere! And the fruit! Oh, the fruit is amazing! I can't get enough. Whole pineapples for $.80! Steaming bowls of delicious noodle soup or plates of green curry with eggplant and tofu for $1.50. It is heavenly.

Photos coming soon!