In the morning we pick up our motor scooters, I am happy that mine has an automatic transmission. In Vietnam, you don’t need a license to hire a motor bike – most expats I’ve met don’t have a license.
This is my bike, there are many like it, but this one is mine (for the day).
We pick up the girls from their resort and I proceed to have my first near death experience. Phu Quoc has few paved roads, most of them are dirt and are littered with pot holes and rocks. To make a long story short, fanging it after having ridden a bike for only five minutes, heavy braking and a sandy road make for a dangerous mix, and it’s a small miracle that we don’t come off the bike. I am grateful to <random deity> that we don’t crash and vow to no longer hoon on the bike.
We stop off for a morning swim on long beach and as we ride south towards south beach, I forget the vow I made as I become more confident on the road. Bao shows his trick of riding with no hands, I show him my trick of riding with no hands and covering my eyes. He decides to not show me any more tricks
After an hour’s ride, we arrive at South Beach. Sheltered by coconut trees, the white sand and crystal clear calm waters provide a stark contrast to the filthy waters of Duong Dong local beach. The only way I’d improve the beach is to add some surf and get rid of the thousands of jellyfish that swim around fifty metres offshore.
We have a seafood hotpot for lunch and head north towards (you guessed it) North Beach. I’m so happy thrashing the little scooter as we’re hitting the maximum speed the bike can go (80 km/h) while avoiding obstacles including animals and locals while overtaking trucks around blind corners. I can’t wait to buy my own bike.
North Beach doesn’t prove to be as good as South Beach, however what it lacks in cleanliness, it makes up for in abundance of shells and lack of jellyfish. I collect a small bounty of shells which I give to the girls.
We head back to town for a dinner of fried cockles, fingernail snails and other seafood I’ve never seen before.
Abkhazia
Armenia
Australia
Azerbaijan
Cambodia
Canada
China
Cyprus
Egypt
Estonia
Georgia
Germany
Israel
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Northern Cyprus
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Tibet
You're a nutter, mate! Don't ride without hands and don't cover your eyes, especially at the same time!!!
STAY ALIVE
Frank
Just FYI, you very much DO need a license to drive a motorbike in Vietnam. The only exception to that rule is for bikes of 50 cc or less, a category into which your bike (judging by your photo) does not fall.
That said, I've been living & driving in Vietnam for the past 5 years without a license. On only one occasion have I been pulled over and asked to produce one. Fortunately, rare is the Vietnamese cop who will not accept that universal "alternative license", the one that you get from the ATM.
Privet, eto vse klasno, no ti xot c odnoi iz devyshek perespal? ya ponimau chto ti xoches pisat chisto dla ludey, no mne interesno esli ti vse pokrivaesh ili ostovlaesh nekotorie detali v storone.
может быть :)