We Got a Flat Tire on the Motorbike

  Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Saturday, September 20, 2008

On this very sunny Saturday afternoon, Philly and I decided to drive all over the city because we enjoy being out on the motorbike so much and we didn't know the city all that well. 

We ended up getting lost about 5 times, and on one of the occasions, while were stopped on the side of the road looking at a map, a very very old man came up to us and started talking to us in Vietnamese.  Once he figured out that we had no idea what he was saying, he switched to French, and it was fluent French.  It was pretty cool because all of a sudden, good old Phil was talking to this guy in French, getting directions on how to get to a park nearby that we were looking for.  It was great to see Phil speaking French, and the old man was so nice.  It was memorable.

What was also memorable about the day was near the end, when we were on our way back home.  We were pretty far out of the center and our back tire went flat.  I was a little worried because we did not have our phrase book or our mobile phones with us.  I had no idea where people get tires changed either. 

So we stopped the bike on the side of the road to have a quick think about what to do next.  Before I could get the kickstand down, some young kid was standing next to us and pointed at our tire and said "fix".  I had a confused look on my face, so he pointed to a spot 20 feet away with tools and an airpump.  I couldn't believe it! We got a flat tire right in front of a guy who fixes tires!  Philly and I were laughing and high fiving because of our great luck!  It was funny.

Motorbike Mechanic 1

                 

Motorbike Mechanic 2

So this guy wheels our bike over, sees that the tube inside was beyong repair, and then gets out a new tube.  Fifteen minutes and 6 dollars later, we were on our way.  It was awesome!

On our way back, we notiiced that at every single street corner in this city, there are at least two or three people with air compressors and tools for changing tires.  We'd never noticed it before and we realized that we weren't actually all that lucky to begin with, but now we know that we can blow a tire anywhere in this town and we will always be within a stones throw of somebody that can fix it. 

We love it here.