The image below is very third world. We find it amusing, but it does reflect the economic conditions of the people in the country. The shot was taken in Vietnam. Though seeing something like it won’t be very unusual here in the Philippines, such an image is commonplace in the neighboring Vietnam where there are a few cars and more than 5 million motorcycles!
But the Philippines is on the way of being a motorcycle country too like China, India & Vietnam. With the rising price of gas, the steady increase of fares in public transportation, and the affordability of motorcycles (installment terms go as low as P1000+ per month); any minimum wage earner could now afford to have one. The downside is a lot are hopping onto one without the proper know-how or awareness on how to be a responsible rider hence the increase in motorcycle-related accidents in the past four years as reported by MMDA (there were 2,092 accidents with 51 fatalities in Metro Manila alone just from Jan-May 2006). But I digress, so let’s go back to these photographs. Here’s a sample.
That one’s a gate in what I assume is made of wrought iron. You can just imagine what else they can carry on two wheels? The succeeding images have these bikes of burden carrying anything from multiple passengers, livestock, trays of eggs, construction materials, and even a shark! But what takes the cake for me is the one carrying a mirror for delivery in a barbershop.
