Foreign Concepts

In all cultures there are little things that are simply unheard of, not done, or do not exist. At least in the main stream aspects of the culture that is. Here in Vietnam I have discovered one thing that if said to a Vietnamese person will make them come to a dead stop and simply stare at you as if you had just asked if you could take Ho Chi Minh's body home with you. In other words, something completely and totally impossible. It is of course perfectly reasonable to understand why the Vietnamese would never let anyone, especially and American, take Ho Chi Minh home with them, but the thing I have discovered is a very simple thing in the western world and all of us have done it in multiple countries.

Rent a car. Without a driver. If you tell a Vietnamese travel agent that you want to rent a car without a driver they simply stare at you like you have asked them to book you a bus ticket to the moon. Mark and I have gone to at least three dozen travel agencies over the last week as well as having the very well connected and exceedingly helpful staff at our hostel in an attempt to find a jeep that we could drive to Ho Chi Minh City.

As a result I am now headed south tonight on the bus. A much less glamorous method of travel to say the least. I am leaving around 8 pm and should be arriving in Hue around 10 am tomorrow morning. While an old russian army jeep would have been an awesome experience, the traffic fatality statistics quoted to us by the hostel staff put a heavy dose of reality into us. More than 40 people a day die on Vietnamese country roads in traffic accidents. This statistic, coupled with the apparent complete lack of traffic laws has led to me to believe that maybe it is better that western style car rental remain a foreign concept here in Vietnam.