"The room's getting smaller!" "No it's not, he's getting bigger!"

Space & Bicycle Tires

My bike, by western standards, is a joke. It's about three years old (which by Vietnamese standards is new) and rust colored from the summer it spent living outside at Mashall's house. It used to be Jackie's, but she never used it so it lived in our garage for a year but had two flat tires. It's thin, light, not durable. I bought it from Jackie for $25 and it has been my trusty steed for the past 2 months while commuting my short distances to work. About a month ago while at a stop light I pressed hard on the brakes and one blew completely. The tube detached from the handle because it had rusted out and just couldn't take it anymore. It's spent the last month being pushed here and there out of my way but the metal spikes at the end always end up jabbing into my palm making me bleed.

But alas even though I've pushed it over the streets, through feet of water, potholes, cracks, through rocks, up hills and down and even down lane 209 over and over again, it withstood the pressure (except for the right brake). I didn't marvel at it lest I jinx myself but last week my trusty bike gave up. The rear wheel deflated and a simple trip to the bike repairman up the street was no help. I delayed, taking a xe om one day, walking another, using Jeff's bike yet another, but today came for me to take action for this serious health problem (of my bike).

Around 11am I walked up Doi Can and was yelled at by some women at a pho stall to wait for someone for my bike. The man came, very old and relaxed looking. He painstakingly undid my rear bike wheel even though it was rusted together and then put the inner tube in a water bucket to check for holes. It had one and he proceeded to patch it- all with a little tiny tray of tools and his skilled hands. While I sat there, watching the world go by from a plastic chair in the shade I focused on the actual width of Doi Can street. A woman next to me kicked a metal canister into the street (as trash) but it skidded a foot and a half away from the curb (in the middle of the eastern direction of traffic lane). I was amazed- what if someone hit it on their bike, wouldn't people have to swerve? How could she do this? No one seemed concerned by this, especially not the motorists. But in the States this would've caused problems maybe even an accident or at least frustration at the stupid person throwing trash in the street. This action forced me to compare the size of the street to the ones in the States. I realized that this street that probably 5,000 people live on is half the width of the street my house is on in California. My street in CA is single loaded and residential, yet it's twice the size of this main thoroughfare in the capital city of Hanoi. So, maybe that makes the size difference 8 to 1? Everything in Vietnam is 1/8th the size of its counterpart in the States?

Just a thought.

PS My bike is now fine, the man did a fabulous job and he only asked 15,000 dong from me although I agreed on 20,000 for all his time and effort. And he told me to come back tomorrow so he can fix my brake!!