means. I'd see a close call about every
5 seconds! The funniest thing I saw, and saw often, was a whole
family on one motorcycle, Dad, Mom, Son and Baby Daughter sitting
on the handlebars, and of course no helmets. It truely was a
circus show!Scoota's Page / The Miles / The Trials / The Smiles / The Travels / The Warplan /The Survival Guide / Links / Email / Chat / Sign My Guestbook / View My Guestbook
February 7, 1998 - Hello all! Sorry I haven't been updating on a regular basis. This is a long one, so get comfortable. I feel like I've been burning the candle at both ends. Too much going on right now. I got back from Vietnam about 2 weeks ago, and ever since, I've been very busy with work, running, closing on my house, modeling and everything else I've got going on. I'll be happy when I can just settle back into a daily routine.
Vietnam was incredible!!! I had a 10 hour layover in Hong Kong
on the way and was able to spend a little time there on both the
trip in and on the trip back. I took a cab into the market center
of Hong Kong and it was pretty interesting to see all the items
for sale. You could have found just about anything you needed.
Vietnam was much the same way, but with even more shops and
cheaper. It's kind of funny because what tends to happen is that
all the merchants who specialize in the same items, say bike
tires, put their shops in the same vicinity as other bike tire
salesmen. So you'll have an area which specializes in bike tires
and only bike tires. And there's merchants who specialize in
everything from little wooden boats to motorcycle fairings. And
speaking of motorcycles, I've never seen so many in all my life.
The streets are caos. Ho Chi Minh City has about 6 million
residents and they all seem to be riding motorcycles. And they
have no idea what "not crossing the center line" means. I'd see a close call about every
5 seconds! The funniest thing I saw, and saw often, was a whole
family on one motorcycle, Dad, Mom, Son and Baby Daughter sitting
on the handlebars, and of course no helmets. It truely was a
circus show!
Ho Chi Minh was a pretty dirty city. I mean with 6 million, what would you expect! I went to two other cities, Pham Tiet and Vung Tau. Pham Tiet was a desert town out in the middle of no where. Vung Tau was a resort town on the ocean. I wouldn't have minded spending a little more time there. I did ride with the Vietnam Challenge on one day, covering about 90 miles. My shoulder blades were killing me by the end of the day. 7 hours is a long time to be in the saddle, although my butt wasn't too bad. It was pretty neat though! I rode from Pham Tiet to Vung Tau, and the whole day was amazing. All along the way, as our group of about 80 riders came by, people whould come running from their houses and schools to wave at us and say "Hello" and "Good Luck" in Vietnamese. The weather was incredibley hot and I got a nice tan to show for it.
The last couple of nights I spent back in Ho Chi Minh City, which was fun. I'd spend my days shopping at the local markets, and my evenings out at the bars. There were two bars which I frequented. The first was called the "Q Bar." It was mostly filled with other Americans and Europeans and was pretty much a low key place to get a drink and talk. The second was called, fittingly enough, "Apocolypse Now." It was a dance club/bar and had a vast abundance of cultural diversity. All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip! I got to ride a bike and party with one of my boyhood heros, Greg LeMond, who is on the World T.E.A.M. Sports Board of Directors, and I got to visit a very exotic place and see a side of Vietnam which isn't portrayed on the movie screen. A country at peace. There will be a 2 hour documentary airing on NBC in May, prior to the NBA Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday. Keep your eye out for it.