The SE Asia iPad Journal: Hello, hello, hello..!

It can be from beside us as we ride, from fellow road users on mopeds, buses and cars, from some distance away, from rice field workers, and often, from children along the street... the call of "hello" is frequent, and almost always friendly.

It has been quite amazing, the amount of "hello"s we had... I'm stunned by how far they come too... Especially from the kids. We might still be 300m away, often hidden from view by trees or vehicles (well, you'd think, but...) but somehow, we've been spotted already, and the excited screams of "Hello, hello, hellohellohello...HELLOHELLO!!!!" are already reaching us as a bunch of children come barreling out into the road, frantically waving, and often reaching for a fly-by high-five.

We sometimes get a loud "OY!" or similar, usually from some punkish teenagers or half-drunk middle-aged men, which is less appealing, but we do try to call back a hello as well, or more often, the Vietnamese version, "Chao Ban", although that is usually met with a fit of laughter... Especially from the teenage girls... Usually 2 to a bicycle, one in the saddle, the other on the rear rack, but both pedaling, they wobble all over the road as they crank their heads around to giggle and wave bashfully.

Sometimes, we've had someone tail us slowly on a moped, just staring with amazed curiosity at our bikes... Sometimes those that can speak some, will ride alongside to practice their English with us.

The roads have certainly brought us some fun sights and sounds. And sometimes, some obstacles to avoid... Water buffalo have still yet to learn the highway code...

We have also suffered our first puncture... Toms rear tyre got that sinking feeling yesterday lunchtime. Luckily, there was a small shack nearby that we could shelter under away from the traffic and out of the sun, whilst we set about fixing it.