Vomiting Vietnamese

Vietnam has an abundance of motorbikes weaving through traffic and very few cars. This lack of cars means that people get motion sickness easily. I mean very easily. People, mostly women, throw up everywhere! I'm talking vomiting in cars, buses, bus stations, airplanes, and ferries. It was astonishing, confusing, and disgusting all at the same time.

The first time we encountered a vomiting woman we were in a taxi that had scrunched 11 people into a seven person car. Keep in mind we don't know these people and they don't know each other so everyone's personal space was more than invaded. Nathan, Emily, Mark, and I had to squish in the back of an SUV onto two seats. We were driving along and my head was basically between the people in front of me who had wedged four people into three seats including a very elderly grandmother. All of sudden people begin talking in Vietnamese and I see a plastic bag handed to the lady in front of me. She then proceeded to vomit into the bag. I would have to say she did it politely and soundlessly, but nonetheless she puked in a car where everyone is already too close. She held onto the bag for a while before reaching over another woman and tossing the bag out the window. This was our first experience with vomit, but not nearly the last!

We saw a woman step off our bus and walk right over to a wall in the parking lot to throw up, a woman on our airplane was throwing up, a woman on the bus we took to the plane was throwing up, and I am sure there were a few more encounters. We quickly began to notice that every bus and plane seat had plastic bags tucked in the backs of the chairs. It was then that we realized seeing so many vomiting women was not just a coincidence. After talking with a few other travelers we learned that Vietnamese people are not used to riding in cars, buses, and planes because motorbikes are the main form of transportation. Apparently they never get used to sitting inside a moving vehicle; therefore, they get sick frequently! Sorry if this post irks your stomach a little, but we all thought it was a funny phenomenon.