Stuff on 2- and 3-wheeled Vehicles in Vietnam

In the same vein as the internet meme, Stuff on My Cat, I am bringing to you stuff on 2- and 3-wheeled vehicles in Vietnam.

Despite having lived for almost 9 months in Jakarta, a place that is rife with motorbikes carrying all manner of unique and/or precariously perched goods, I was truly amazed by the stuff I saw being carried and/or happening on 2- and 3-wheeled vehicles in Vietnam, including bikes, motorbikes and the ubiquitous 3-wheeled cyclos, Vietnam's bicycle taxis.  I don't know if it's the contrast to the U.S., where everything is transported in big, opaque trucks, or if I'm amazed by the balancing act, but regardless, it continually made me laugh.

I was able to capture photos of some of the marvels, but some you will have to imagine, as the vehicle whizzed by too quickly for a proper picture.  

Stuff on Motorbikes:

Ladies riding side saddle.

A "tree" full of model airplanes.

Five people!!!

Five people... so good it necessitated 2 photos.

A garden?

Approximately 500 eggs.

Ten 5-gallon bottles of drinking water.

A lady AND her portable shoulder pole food distribution vessel thingy.

A washing machine!!!  I saw this not once, but 3 times.

Guys announcing that they are selling and/or offering services via a loudspeaker attached to the front of their motorbikes.  Some video I took in Hoi An is below!!

Stuff I saw but did not photograph... I've provided links to similar pictures if I could find them!:

Six full-sized pigs stuffed in tubular metal cages

30 ducks stuffed into plastic baskets

50 coconuts

Babies sitting in bamboo high chairs

Giant 2 x 3 foot ice blocks

Me, burning my calf on the exhaust pipe. Turns out they're hot. And you're supposed to get off the other side. Who knew?

 Guys laying down, sleeping in between shifts

A 20 foot ladder

The driver holding hands with a bicyclist, giving the bike some momento

Stuff on Bicycles:

Ok, so not a lot of photos of crazy stuff on bikes, but my favorite sight was 2 girls riding one bicycle (one sitting on the seat, one on the rack over the back wheel), both pedaling using the same set of pedals, feet side-by-side.  We saw this repeatedly.  Hilarious.

Stuff on Cyclos:

A ton of rice crackers.

I don't know what this is, but there's a lot of it.  And the guy gave me the thumbs up right after I took the photo.

Mannequins!!  Originally there were about 10 of them, but by the time I caught up to take a photo, there were only a couple pieces yet to be unloaded.

Stuff I saw but did not photograph... I've provided links to similar pictures if I could find them!:

4 people (not including the driver)

2 Buddhist monks in their golden robes

1 cyclo driver lighting his cyclo on fire out of boredom (this happened in front of us while we were drinking a streetside beer in Hue.  I think the guy was a little unhinged.)

Frequently Spotted in Jakarta

Frequently seen on the roads in Jakarta:  

Hundreds of motorbikes weaving through traffic, then inching forward at a red light, ready to jump the gun (usually approximately 6 seconds before the light turns green).  The occasional bajaj scoots in there, too. 

This is right in front of Tim's office building.

Construction... so much construction.  This 10-meter high elevated flyover road is being built in order to alleviate traffic in the future (we'll see about that), but is currently wreaking havoc on traffic throughout the city.  And also looking mighty precarious in the meantime.

This makes me nervous... notice how it is seemingly floating, unconnected on either end?

Not a lot of cones, ropes or other protective equipment to warn passersby of the construction overhead.

Old dirty buses, burping bajaj... I know I've mentioned these before, but they really are omnipresent and unforgettable for several reasons: 1) the fumes... the fumes!  2) the fact that they are always trying to either pick you up or run you over.

Sorry for the blur... took this photo as I crossed the street on foot.  Stop for a second and you will be roadkill.

Bali: Miscellaneous Quirks and Assorted Shenanigans

Here is a series of quirky Balinese sitings as well as some of our shenanigans while on Bali.

Each afternoon at about 5 pm, I'd look around the backyard of the villa and notice that I had been surrounded by these croaking guys.

Monday was a work-from-home day.  It was pouring.

Workin' hard for the money, so you'd better treat them right.

Tim, working less hard for the money.

Just because Tim's 32 doesn't mean he doesn't keep up with trends on the internets.

All of them.

Tea party leisure dive?

Keep your wax to yourself:   Bali is the spa capital of Indonesia.  We were surrounded by ads and people shilling for massages, pedicures, and every spa treatment you can imagine, as well as some you wish you had never heard of, including the third treatment up on the left... ear candle??!!??!!  No thanks.  Tidak.

The traffic in Bali is literally nothing compared to that of Jakarta.  Any yet the motorbike loaded up with god-knows-what is common to both locales.  This guy, with his portable restaurant on his bike, is a pretty tame example.  On my first night in Jakarta, on the way home from the airport, I saw a guy with at least 30 throw pillows strapped onto his motorbike.  Indonesian seatbelt?

Absolut Petrol:  While there are plenty of traditional gas stations on Bali, most of the petrol is distributed to motorbikers via these rustic roadside stands where the gas is typically stored in Absolut vodka bottles.  They just stick the funnel in your bike and dump it in for the equivalent of about $3.  I don't know if my former colleagues at OTAQ would approve...

Speaking of motorbikes... we rented 3 of them for our jaunts around Seminyak. Erin and Ben usually ride together, but I was hesitant to ride with Tim based on our experience canoeing, which involved several near-capsizing moments.  I don't know about Tim, but I had never set foot (or butt) on a 2-wheeled motorized vehicle before.  And it showed. Within about 2 seconds of getting on my bike, I accidentally got a little, umm, zoomy, while the cab in front of me simultaneously and inexplicably stopped short.  My bike tapped his bumper and an international incident almost ensued.

But all was well in the end and we zoomed on.  I also tried sharing a motorbike with Tim and it went fine.  He drove very well.  I don't think that bike will ever recover from the 400 lbs of white person that it carried around, however.

Remember how I told you there were random (well, random to me, but probably very strategic to others) shrines and offerings everywhere in Bali?  I wasn't kidding.  This one was on a busy corner in shopping area.

The offerings were everywhere- in front of every shop, house and shrine.  Little woven palm baskets filled with flowers, leaves, incense, rice, and occasionally other things like cigarettes, candy bars, crackers...

Even in front of our pool!