Things that tried to kill me!

Now I don't mean to be paranoid! BUT it seemed that our ride was quite dangerous at times! Some days I thought that many things were trying to kill me...

Again, a list might be in order!

1. Day one... the first intersection! Did the organizers want fewer people on this ride?? We rode out onto a very busy dual carriage way and stopped at the lights for a five way intersection. Now where I come from, a green light should mean that you can progress through the intersection in relative safety! In Vietnam, apparently this is not always the case! There were people and trucks and the requisite hundreds of motor bikes going in all directions! So the approach I took... take a deep breath... in fact a very deep breath... and then one more for luck... and ride like the wind!! Thankfully this method worked a treat.
2. All days... traffic, traffic and more traffic! Often on rather narrow roads. People are really polite and beep their horns to let you know they are coming past. This is wonderful, but do they really have to honk so LOUDLY while they are right next to you? AND personally, I prefer a little bit more leeway between a large vehicle and me on my bike. I am convinced that breathing in and being as skinny as possible on my trusty bike enabled me to survive!
3. A Mother Duck and her lovely fluffy babies... sounds harmless right? WRONG! So I was riding along the shoulder of the road and out comes a mother duck and her babies. So I cycled around them into a very conveniently placed pothole. WOW did I get airborne??? I had visions of coming a complete cropper... but luckily all ended well. Me still on my trusty bike and the ducks continuing on their journey
4. Potholes! Now I know we already experienced a pothole incident with the ducks... but they were EVERYWHERE! Just waiting to catch the unsuspecting cyclist! Little ones, big ones, ones which were big enough to build a house in! Well maybe I am exaggerating slightly, but small people could definitely live in some of them... maybe only very small people
5. The local man riding his bike with a very long stick which I choose to call a spear! Coming the other way on the shoulder of the road. This time I decided to breath in, be skinny and close my eyes! Worked a treat!
6. Water Buffalo. I was cycling along enjoying the scenery and noticed one of our group way off the road with 5 buffalo heading his way. I thought he was taking a picture of them, but then he cut off their exit so they turned around and ran to the road... exactly where I was riding! Three in front and two behind. I rode faster than I have ever ridden before to avoid them! I wonder if the screaming helped me to be faster!
7. Cows. Well I don't think any actually tried to kill me, but one certainly gave me a funny look while I cycled past! 
8. Kids. The kids were awesome! They would run to the side of the road and call hello! Some of them liked to do high fives as you cycled past. It was really cool... except for the ones who tried to hit so hard that it almost took your arm off! Bless them, just goes to show kids are the same world-wide

Phew... survived them all! HA!

Until next time!

W xx