Can I Call You Tom?

Unable to stop the momentum that began with my purchase of a Honda Cub motorbike, I've added a bicycle to my stable of Saigon conveyances. It's a hardtail mountain bike that I bought after seeing it advertised for sale on a Craiglist post. I can now thank you, Craig Newmark, for 1 car purchase, my last 2 car sales, my motorbike purchase, and now this! I think it's safe to say that without Craigslist I'd be doing a lot more walking.

Craigslist is still getting traction in Vietnam, but it seems the activity has been picking up in the 2 1/2 years I've been watching it here. The apartment rental agents caught on a long time ago and there's always an extensive list of posts for apartments for rent aimed mostly at foreigners. Interestingly, there's a single Craigslist for all of Vietnam and I'd estimate at least 80% of all posts are associated with Saigon. Saigon continues its long tradition of embracing change and commerce with a much higher level of acceptance and enthusiasm than that other city in Vietnam up north somewhere.

I get more comments and attention when I'm on my bicycle than when I'm on the motorbike. I guess it's just more unusual and interesting to see a foreigner riding a mountain bike than mingled in with the thousands of motorbikes on any given Saigon street. You're also more easily spoken to and maybe seem more accessible sitting quietly on a bicycle without the rumbling engine that seems to create some sort of social barrier.

I don't get passed by many other cyclists on the streets of Saigon. As a matter of fact I enjoy speeding along while leaving motorbikes in my wake as I'm often able to do especially when traffic gets a little heavy. Once in Nha Trang a Vietnamese man on a bicycle went creaking past me on the Tran Phu (Trần Phú) bridge and I could tell he was pushing it pretty hard to keep his pace. Whether he was doing it to pass me or not I don't know. Neither did I care. The competitive cyclist in me still comes out at times and I let him quickly know the only reason he was able to pass me was that I had been taking it easy.

One Saturday afternoon in Saigon another Vietnamese man in long pants and leather dress shoes made a similar passing maneuver accompanied with a drawn out and, it seemed to me at the time, taunting 'Heeeelllllooooo!'. This occurred just before a traffic light that had just turned red. Red means stop in Vietnam also.

He proceeded to weave and wobble his way through the red light and across the intersection probably thinking he had now put an insurmountable barrier between us. Of course he hadn't. I wouldn't be writing this if he had now would I?

I moved up to the front of the traffic and jumped the green light just a little and it didn't take me 10 seconds to pull up beside him. "You wanna race?" I blurted out in English and motioned forward with my hand. I didn't wait for any response before I turned up the crank and left him way behind.

After maybe 1 kilometer there was a red light at a major intersection and as I pulled up I glanced back to see if my fellow cyclist was coming up. Nothing. I figured he must have turned off. Then about 10 seconds later I heard someone shout from up ahead and looked up to see him ahead of me at the light looking back and smiling and waving! I laughed and waved back. He then turned right and continued on his way. I know he didn't pass me while I was pedaling. There's a side road along the main lanes of Tran Hung Dao (Trần Hưng Đạo) street that is open to 2-wheeled vehicles and he probably took that and cruised by me while I was already stopped or slowing down. But nevertheless he ended up ahead of me by the time he shouted and waved.

Vietnamese children (and probably a large percentage of adults) love the American cartoon Tom and Jerry. One reason is that there's no spoken language so anyone from any country can enjoy it equally. Genius. Another reason, and this is my own opinion, is that Vietnamese love the idea of the wily mouse Jerry outwitting his bigger rival and surviving despite the overwhelming factors of size and physical strength arrayed against him. I have no doubt that every Vietnamese who has ever watched Tom and Jerry immediately identifies with Jerry and associates with Tom those of other nationalities that have 'visited' Vietnam including we Americans, the French, and their biggest nemesis of all, the Chinese.

That morning I was Tom and was outwitted by a Jerry who didn't and probably couldn't win the brutish contest of pedaling strength (to his credit my bike was also a bit better than his), but who nevertheless saved face and won something else. Perhaps I'm reading far too much into it but in any case we both rode on with smiles on our faces.

My basic mountain bike purchased from a Canadian in Saigon. By Vietnamese standards it's a high-end bike. I've worked out a 2-hour loop from my house that includes crossing the Phu My Bridge (Cầu Phú Mỹ), a beautiful suspension bridge between districts 2 and 7.