It's a brand new Yamaha Grande. 125cc, 4 Stroke, 8.2 HP, 9.7NM, Air cooled. This model is exclusively made for the vietnamese Market. And of course made in Vietnam.
Since saturday I already drove more than 70km with it. I had to pick it up in Binh Dhoung, around 25km away from Ho Chi Minh.
My first impression is very good. Drives really nice and comfortable. Seat suits my big old bottom.
Now being part of the traffic here, driving is completely different than in western countries. Forget Rome or Paris. This is piece of cake compared to Ho Chi Minh. People do not look to the sides or to the back. And even though most of the bikes have mirrors, the Vietnamese obviously haven't understood the principle of it. Vietnamese like to change the standard mirrors to custom mirrors, and tend to adjust them, so that they can rather see themselves instead of the traffic behind. They really have a selfie culture here. Bearing these things in mind, you are somehow prepared for the traffic. Traffic rules are in general the same as in Europe. Except, you may overtake on any side of the road. And forget about the lanes. You can easily fit 5-6 bikes next to each other in one lane.
You shouldn't be scared within the traffic, but you should always watch out. When you get used to it after a few km, then it starts to make fun.
Yesterday I quickly went to the Russian market, then wanted to drive home, and it started to rain. Rather long and rather heavily. So I waited until it was better and decided to drive when there was only a fews drops left falling from the sky. Bad decision! As soon as I was on the main road, the rain started again in all of his vietnamese beauty. Put on a rain jacket before leaving. This kept at least my upper body rather dry, but my jeans and sneakers were soaking wet after maybe 200m. Fortunately getting wet here is not a big thing, since it's warm rain, and it is not cold at all. So you are just wet.
Since Ho Chi Minh City is a maze of one-way-streets you cannot take the direct way to home. So I had to take a detour and this road was completely flooded, which meant, I could test the off-road skills of James. James did very well! Nevertheless it's a funny feeling to drive through 5cm of water for a few 100 meters. At least James was pretty clean, when I reached home.
In my opinion driving a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City is something one should do as a lifetime experience. Looking forward to have many trips with James!
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