Home » Vietnam » At Ease with the Easy Riders

Monday morning Jeff and I crept out of Casa de Andrew and John not to wake the boys from their slumber. The place was a complete hole, and random neighbors were coming back to retrieve bowls and plates from the night festivities (take note of this comment for later). As bad as we felt leaving it a mess and as much fun as we were having in debaucherous Saigon, it was time to leave. The boys and the whole couchsurfing experience definitely made Saigon such a memorable place for us!

At Ease with the Easy Riders

Casey Lary
2007-04-21 23:11:26

Displayed times (last time: )

have Jeff around? After settling in, we went in search of the Easy Riders. Say the name "Easy Rider" in southern Vietnam and any tourist and local will no exactly who you are
talking about. They are a bit of a legend in southern Vietnam. This group of motorcycle guides started off as a group of Vietnamese war veterans taking people from city to city by motorcycle. Their popularity grew rapidly, which forced them to take on an official title for recognition, choosing Easy Riders. Now the number of Easy Riders is over 100. Not all are war veterans, yet still all have their own number. We read about them and heard from other travelers that these guys were the way to go. At the steep price of $40-50 a day, Jeff and I decided these guys were the richest men in Vietnam! We splurged and signed up that night with Hai (Easy Rider #40) and Lam (Easy Rider #10), our lucky drivers.

The next morning at breakfast I started to have some doubts. I mean, the one thing my parents said to me before the trip was "Don't ride on motorcycles. They are dangerous and too many people die every year on them in Southeast Asia." Here I was signed up to ride on the back of one for two days. Fear started to overcome me. I leaned over to Jeff
The Bear room...and you wonder why I took a photo of this...
and said "so...isn't this kinda dangerous?" He replied "Well I guess, kinda." That was the end of the conversation. Carpe Diem, right? Lam was my lucky driver. I loved his helmet because it was adorned with Vietnam flag decals. Like I was taught in HCMC, stand on the left and throw your right leg over. I pulled down my fake-Chanels (best purchase ever!), slipped my helmet on, and held onto Lam very tightly, my knuckles taking on a new shade of white. Lam put on his driving goggles, helmet, windbreaker and gloves. We made this look good. I was "Born to be Wild."

Our first stop was at the "Crazy House." It totally reminded me of one of Gaudi's architectural ...