Yes, the inevitable has happened – rainy season is upon us: short, torrential downpours during afternoons or evenings, varying in frequency. It’s quite refreshing at times and can take the edge off the heat: on the flip side it can also be a pain in the posterior. Saigon seemingly transforms in to something of a running sewer over these months. This time of year also adds to the joy of teaching young learners, as they come in to school smelling of wet dog. You know the scent. Each child brings with them their own unique variety of little wet dog smell – which all combine, with the help of the air conditioning, leading to a gut wrenching stench upon entering class – not good.
Scenes on the roads here are astonishing enough at the best of times, but a sudden downpour causes literally every scooter on the road to pull over, drivers and passengers alike hopping off to don their plastic ponchos: this season’s fashion must have. Some poncho-less passengers even resort to crouching underneath the back of their driver’s rainwear and spend the journey viewing little more than their chauffer’s butt crack! Those who prefer to view the back of their driver’s crash helmet (as is the norm) opt for a double head-hole poncho. Practical, until one or both of you want to get off the scooter! Having shared a poncho with a friend whilst leaving a music festival in the UK a few years ago, I can vouch for the fact that this is less than ideal, especially if the two of you vary in height! It still makes me laugh to think of the confusion and distress we caused to drunken/high passersby at 5am who must have thought they were hallucinating – seeing a two headed, four legged woman walking towards them! Anyway, I digress…
Ponchos do not only cover people, hell no – they are also used to keep bikes dry - whilst riding: draped over the front of the scooter to prevent the driver from getting wet hands, this method also serves to illuminate the streets with a cacophony of colours. Some ponchos avoid this and have specifically designed clear plastic sections where the front headlight should be, most however do not, so you see all sorts of strangely coloured lights moving along at night. I have yet to see a person on foot wearing one of these strategically placed clear plastic parts, but fear I may give them a double take as it would no doubt inappropriately draw attention to their crotchal region: Vietnam’s answer to the rainy season flasher’s mac!
Scenes on the roads here are astonishing enough at the best of times, but a sudden downpour causes literally every scooter on the road to pull over, drivers and passengers alike hopping off to don their plastic ponchos: this season’s fashion must have. Some poncho-less passengers even resort to crouching underneath the back of their driver’s rainwear and spend the journey viewing little more than their chauffer’s butt crack! Those who prefer to view the back of their driver’s crash helmet (as is the norm) opt for a double head-hole poncho. Practical, until one or both of you want to get off the scooter! Having shared a poncho with a friend whilst leaving a music festival in the UK a few years ago, I can vouch for the fact that this is less than ideal, especially if the two of you vary in height! It still makes me laugh to think of the confusion and distress we caused to drunken/high passersby at 5am who must have thought they were hallucinating – seeing a two headed, four legged woman walking towards them! Anyway, I digress…
Ponchos do not only cover people, hell no – they are also used to keep bikes dry - whilst riding: draped over the front of the scooter to prevent the driver from getting wet hands, this method also serves to illuminate the streets with a cacophony of colours. Some ponchos avoid this and have specifically designed clear plastic sections where the front headlight should be, most however do not, so you see all sorts of strangely coloured lights moving along at night. I have yet to see a person on foot wearing one of these strategically placed clear plastic parts, but fear I may give them a double take as it would no doubt inappropriately draw attention to their crotchal region: Vietnam’s answer to the rainy season flasher’s mac!
A double head-hole poncho covering hands, headlight and mirrors
I sometimes think a dry suit would have been a better purchase than jelly shoes & my beautiful purple and pink plastic poncho (pictured below). Don’t think I need a snorkel quite yet though – most vertically challenged locals don’t seem to suffer from sludge on the lungs! It’s still a damn sight better than the climate in the UK though so I can’t complain too much!
A xx
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