Street shooting the motor-scooters
There are 9 million people in Saigon,and there are 5 million motor-scooters. Not a lot of genuine, high-powered motorcycles, even fewer cars–there is no parking to speak of, and there is a 200% import duty on them. You can get a license to drive a 50cc scooter at 16, and drive a 100cc or bigger bike at 18.
We tend to think of scooters as barely better than toys, but they are the big means of transport in all of Asia–cheap, economical, practical. You can park anywhere, zip through the hideous traffic, carry the whole family. Tiny babies are carried in mommas arms which dad drives. A little bigger, and they sit or stand between the folks. 3 years and up they stand on the bike in front of the driver, tiny fingers reaching over the handlebars.
I stood on the street for 30 minutes, taking pictures of the stream of sccoters, here is a gallery of them, click on an image to get a better look and scroll through them all,
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- Just hanging with the guys.
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- Just my favorite
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- Dad and son in matching Darth Vader helmets
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- I liked the little fingers on the cowling
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- Sort of a matched set
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- He looks grumpy at having to pedal. It’s a long way to being 15.
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- I guess they are delivering these, but it sure looks festive
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- Grandmas drive the kids around, just like here.
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- Legs, now that’s another story.
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- The women don’t want to get any tan at all, so they cover up when outside.
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- The mom and kid in front are cute, but notice the teddy bear on the bike in back
jolly good show, looking forward to your next trip
cuzin, nick