![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/P4288770.jpg\" "\\"Saigon")
<\/a><\/p>\nI was still struggling to shake the coating from my own mouth when we hopped on the cycles. Our plan that day was to simply wheel west, away from the river, and see where we ended up.<\/p>\n
As we rode through Saigon, we began to discover that the city was sectioned off in a very interesting way. More perhaps than any other place we’ve been, certain neighborhoods of Saigon were dedicated to a specific type of shop or service.<\/p>\n Stopping for an obligatory coffee, we spent a moment at a roadside cafe that had set out vinyl deck chairs\u00a0 providing a good view of the city’s bustle.<\/p>\n Using the restroom meant going into the back of the cafe and meeting the\u00a0proprietor’s\u00a0extended family, which of course we were happy to do multiple times.<\/p>\n We went by the area where all the power tools were sold, which transitioned organically into a neighborhood full of working clothes and protective equipment.<\/p>\n With the added protection of our new helmets, we were really beginning to get the hang of wheeling in Saigon. It was not for the weak of heart, that’s to be sure, but it was doable – enjoyable even. The other people in the traffic were mostly quite alert and communicative.<\/p>\n They might not signal their intent in the explicit way that AsiaWheeling does, but our fellow riders’ head motions and shifting in weight spoke volumes about their next driving moves. We were wheeling fast and hard through thick traffic, but I did not feel out of control or unsafe.<\/p>\n One particularly interesting feature of Saigon can be found in the sidewalks. \u00a0The majority of them are actually sloped to allow motorcycle traffic to climb on and off as needed. \u00a0This makes it much easier to transition into a “Mario Kart” while riding with the rest of traffic, and seems to be a nod by the Ho Chi Minh City urban planners to the\u00a0necessity\u00a0for sidewalks in wheeling.<\/p>\n Soon we found ourselves on a street of musical instrument manufacturers. When I saw a fellow hacking away at acoustic guitars and upright basses along the side, I called a waypoint.<\/p>\n Once again, I found that guitar shop owners stand out from all other shop owners in their willingness to simply hang out, chat, and let me play music in their shops with no pretense of sale. We sat around with this particular chap for some time as he brought out guitar after guitar. It seemed a shame, for the man could build quite decent guitars when he put his mind to it, but it seemed that the demand in Saigon was primarily for 30-dollar-piece-of-garbage guitars, which refused to stay tuned even for the duration of a test play, and were made mostly of unfinished splintering pieces of wood. Regardless it was an enjoyable experience, and I exchanged hearty good wishes with the fellow before departing.<\/p>\n It then occurred to us that it was certainly time for more eating. We wheeled along the musical instrument street and watched as it changed into a stamp street. We could not resist stopping at a local stamp producer to investigate the opportunity for production of an AsiaWheeling ink stamp or two. The shopkeeper was, unfortunately, not available to communicate.<\/p>\n Shortly after the stamp street we found our way into a bakery district. This seemed the perfect excuse to engage in a little scarfing of Ban Mi. Ban Mi are the Vietnamese version of the French baguette sandwiches that had been such a welcome addition to the AsiaWheeling lifestyle since our arrival in old French colonies.<\/p>\n Next was a quick cup of coffee at an anime-themed restaurant that seemed to be populated by the lazy well-to-do youth of Saigon, who flopped\u00a0lackadaisically\u00a0on pillows and eyed us suspiciously. \u00a0From the fourth story\u00a0of the building, we had a good vantage point to view the city.<\/p>\n Electrical wires were strung en masse, providing power to all those who consumed it so vigorously.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n