An experience that I will never forget was during an 80km bike trip to an infamous land mark site near Hue or (Hoi An). Me and 3 of my friends decided to rent mopeds, thankfully they aren't as strict about having a government recognized license out here. With limited experience driving, we set out on a 80km journey across motorways etc. A common cliche said in this life, is that its not about the destination but the journey and in this instance I would echo this statement. As the scenery that our eyes gazed upon was incredible. The beautiful rice paddies, with endless amounts of greenery a sight to behold. But when contrasted with the chaotic nature of the motorways for me it best summed up Vietnam. The calm, disciplined, zen like nature of the farmers right next to the 24 string quartet symphony that was the motorway a perfect way to encapsulate Vietnam. To have the vibe of the old culture living side to side to this new more westernized version of Vietnam. Many question whether this culture change is ruining Vietnam for what it is, however I believe it is a natural state of progression and evolution. To survive, you must evolve and adapt, the same principle applies for us as humans and I believe this same principle applies for Countries especially Vietnam.
However, lets get back to the story at hand. So during this wonderful scenic journey, we were driving down this road with my three friends Toby, Luke and Joe cruising ahead I was lagging behind them. In front of me I noticed a farmer was waiting for his cow to cross this road, with the cow on the other side taking its time. I had plenty of time to make this gap so I thought nothing of this. However, a car pulled up next to me and decided that his patience for the cow was limited, he sped up and overtook me startling the cow. As he overtook the cow ran across the road and met me head on, deciding that a mere collision wasn't enough, the cow picked up its head and headbutted me off my bike. Luckily for me the bike took the brunt of the force, however the outcome isn't a surprising one.
I was sprawled out on the floor, blood everywhere, it trickled down my arms, legs, knees all over the road. I lay there on the floor in silence, not realizing that my friends had stopped and saw everything unfold. They ran around me and for a couple seconds I lay there, then as those seconds passed we all burst out laughing. None of us could believe it, I had just been headbutted off my bike by a cow! Now many people always ask what did you do next? How long did it take for the ambulance to get there? Well, naturally after laughing I got up, dusted myself off accepted that there was going to be a lot of blood staining my clothing, saw that my wing mirrors were on the side of the road picked them up screwed them on started my bike up and we continued on with my journey. Because this is life, shit happens, now you can cry about it and ruin the rest of your time or you can accept it for being what it is and move on. This is Vietnam, I wasn't going to allow a crash like that ruin my time here. An important life skill that has continued to serve me well throughout my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment