In Vietnam, a Moto is ‘a Bionic Limb, a Magic Carpet, a Personal Jet Pack’

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  10.06.08 | 12:40 PM ET

imageAnyone who has traveled in Vietnam has seen the motos—everywhere. Patti McCracken paints a vivid portrait of the country’s moto culture in the Christian Science Monitor.

“Day after day, I’d watch—through taxi windows—the dizzying theater of street traffic,” she writes. “From my backseat perch, I’d jot notes to myself about the two- and three-wheeled vehicles minnowing around me, heaving with cargo—coconut-laden rickshaws; old bicycles bulging with baskets of raw meat; cyclo drivers pedaling oversized spools of cable wiring; and motorbike after motorbike weighted down with six-foot bookcases, stereos, refrigerators, extension ladders…From my view inside the taxi, I felt like an onlooker who’d been plopped down into the middle of a parade.”

Photo by alex-s via Flickr (Creative Commons)


Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


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