Driving in Asia

done it been there done that, wow, frightening, any which way goes, not watched the vid just personal experience :wacky:


watched a bit of it loks like bangkok thats tame compare to sri lanka, and thailand
 
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I was out in Vietnam and Cambodia earlier this year and saw some pretty hairy stuff on the roads, but I only saw one minor accident. Crossing the road is an interesting experience though:eek:

Re: the video...can't quite figure out why people were actually filming this stuff. Who has a camera running all the time they're driving?:shrug:
 
boogie man said:
I was out in Vietnam and Cambodia earlier this year and saw some pretty hairy stuff on the roads, but I only saw one minor accident. Crossing the road is an interesting experience though:eek:
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I honestly thought I was going to die one time crossing the road in Vietnam. It was really just shut your eyes and pray once you found yourself in the middle of the traffic!

They do drive like this over there though. Making our way into Saigon I spotted one guy cross the central reservation, riding a moped into the oncoming traffic, which in Vietnam is not 2 uniform lanes like you'd generally see over here. It's absolute chaos! Weaving in and out, he then pulls up on the side of the street. Only taking a short cut...

I seen a few accidents around and about SE Asia.
 
boogie man said:
Re: the video...can't quite figure out why people were actually filming this stuff. Who has a camera running all the time they're driving?:shrug:
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Plenty of people are doing it in the UK now as a means of proof of liability when hit by other motorists in accidents.
 
Urban Grimshaw said:
I honestly thought I was going to die one time crossing the road in Vietnam. It was really just shut your eyes and pray once you found yourself in the middle of the traffic!
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Ha ha yes. The guide we were with in Saigon told us to just walk out into the road and the traffic will go round you. It does work...but you need a sphincter of steel to do it the first time. The only time I got in bother when was an old lady on a push bike ran into my bumcheeks in a busy market. Maybe she thought I was a bikestand :LOL:
 
boogie man said:
Ha ha yes. The guide we were with in Saigon told us to just walk out into the road and the traffic will go round you. It does work...but you need a sphincter of steel to do it the first time. The only time I got in bother when was an old lady on a push bike ran into my bumcheeks in a busy market. Maybe she thought I was a bikestand :LOL:
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The bikes, whilst still scary in all their chaos aren't so bad. In this particular instance there was a bus hurtling towards us. It was one of those instances where we were already stuck in the center of the road, thinking we better get past before this bus before thinking better of it....and just stepping back and standing up as straight as possible with our eyes shut!

Yes, they swerve, but they don't stop. In their minds that's what the horn's for!!

Great place though. Full of character.
 
Urban Grimshaw said:
Great place though. Full of character.
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Yes indeed, a fantastic city. Did you go travel around much or stay put in Saigon?

I thought Vietnam would be similar to Thailand tbh ( I'd been there a couple of years back) but we were amazed how different it was. The people were friendly and the food didn't bite as much as Thai cooking, which is great as I'm not a fan of mega-hot food.
 
boogie man said:
Yes indeed, a fantastic city. Did you go travel around much or stay put in Saigon?
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Everyone was running out of money by that point, so didn't make it up to Hanoi. Got as far as Mui Ne and Nha Trang. Cambodia though.....I fell in love with that place.
 
Urban Grimshaw said:
Everyone was running out of money by that point, so didn't make it up to Hanoi. Got as far as Mui Ne and Nha Trang. Cambodia though.....I fell in love with that place.
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Hanoi is brilliant. Very different from Saigon, but really interesting.

Yeah I liked Cambodia a lot too, although the Killing Fields were a very harrowing experience. :( We spent a week in Siem Reap/Ankhor *** afterwards though...excellent! I took literally hundreds of pics to bore my mates with.

Oh, the rude word censor has deleted double u, ay, tee :LOL:
 
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I keep reading the title of this thread as Asda....just thought I would share that with you all. It really does make the video slightly more disappointing each time :(
 
I live in Vietnam and have done for three years now but I still have eyes in the back of my head everytime I step off the "pavement". Wouldn't change it for all the rice in China or hoodies in London though.....

Have got used to the riding here now, slow and steady wins the race.......
 
Went to Hong Kong and China back in the end of March. HK is fine for the most part. Taxies are a bit nuts, and you should never cross in the middle of the street if there's a car even remotely close to you, as cars simply honk but barely slow down.

China is absolutely crazy though. People switching lanes with nearly no regard for other people, going from very wide 3 lane roads to really narrow and bumpy ones with scooters parked everywhere. I wouldn't want to drive there myself ever.
 
I spent 3 months in SW Asia and the standards there were shocking. Lots of near misses when we were passengers in buses and taxis, and we barely went in them at all. Made worse by the fact there are so many stray dogs and potholes.
 
The way I view it is organised chaos, there are certain rules that you follow and then there are rules that you can bend, stretch and break. Once you have started to cross the road dont stop or turn back, the motorbikes will see you and part to let you walk, and keep eye contact with the riders as they approach. Its scary but fun at the same time.......
 
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