moto madness

in vietnam the growing economy has created a new class of consumers, especially in urban centers like ho chi minh city. although one still sees folks riding around on bicycles, they have been largely replaced these days by scooters and small motorbikes.

at intersections like the one above there are swarms of bikes waiting for the light to change. in a car or van one is completely surrounded and when traffic is heavy the bikes thread and weave their way around, making forward progress as one sits there stuck.

unfortunately i missed taking pics of some of the more interesting things we saw- like one fellow carrying a refrigerator on the back of his motorbike and families of 4 or even 5 all squeezed together on one bike.

the next upgrade from motorbikes is to a small car. with traffic as bad as it is now in vietnam i can't imagine what it'll be like when that happens. it could even rival the worst of the worst... bangkok traffic!