[travel] Guns and motorcycles

[mattbell]

As of a week ago I had never shot a gun or been on a motorcycle.  Now I can check bot of those off.

I shot a few rounds out of an AK-47 at a range in Vietnam.  I will say that modern videogames replicate the sound and feel very well, but the sensory assault you get from it in real life is fantastic.  the target (a giant sign far away) was kind of boring though... I would have preferred some tin cans on a fence, or better yet, a propane canister.

On to the motorcycles.  I met up with someone who taught me how to ride the small Honda motorbikes that make up 90% of the traffic in Vietnam.  For the shockingly low price of $4.30, we each had a motorbike and a full tank of gas for the day.  After practicing in a hotel parking lot, we headed out toward the Marble Mountains, a group of stunning Buddhist temples carved into limestone mesas.  We also discovered an incredible seafood place off the tourist trail.  The knack for getting really good food  is to look for places on side streets where there are large amounts of well-dressed locals  eating.  We also went into the Son Tre mountains, a set of forested mountains that form a long peninsula near Danang.  The combination of forest, beach, ocean, and city was stunning, and zipping through it on a motorbike thrilled me at a primal level. 

By the end of the day I had experienced beach highways, windy mountain roads, potholed roads, third world city traffic and even dirtbiking.  I briefly got the bike up to 50mph on a wide open road with no one around.  I liked watching my subconscious pick up skills and adjust quickly to a new mode of moving through the word.  My very strong self-preservation instinct kept me on a good path toward mastery without risking my life.  The constant tinge of fear it brought on ensured that I paid very close attention to everything that was going on.  A full day of doing that is exhausting, and I was barely conscious at dinner 

In any case, I would like to try more motorbiking when I get home.  I should get some proper instruction too.   

Comments

[mackenzie]

I've been wanting to get my class M for a while now so I could eventually get a little moto for jetting about town. I'm glad you had a chance to ride a motorbike; it sounds like it was fun.

[flamingnerd.livejournal.com]

I've got to agree that it is pretty fun to shoot an assault rifle. When I joined the army reserve as a kid (17) I so wasn't interested in the weapon's training. I had joined to be a medic. But when I actually did get to fire a weapon it was fun in a "whoa! thats a lot of energy" kinda way, like revving a car or using a powertool. I worried about my enjoying a violent thing, but I figure it's prolly just that bit of euphoria one gets with sympathetic stimulation around dangerous/scary things.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

"sympathetic stimulation" ... I don't get to hear that definition of "sympathetic" that often. :-)

[savorie.livejournal.com]

Neat! Motorbiking is very compatible with city life. Are there any pictures of you shooting?

[eccentrific.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend the MSF motorcycle safety course (in theory; I took it in New England so I can't recommend any particular instance of it around here). They not only teach you how to ride and administer the exam to get you your license, they go over things like proper safety gear and what to look for in buying a helmet.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I will probably do one when I get home. I went on another 100km ride today.

[karenbynight.livejournal.com]

Should you try your hand at motorcycling again on this trip, I offer this advice for not killing yourself: front brakes are much more powerful than back brakes, and over-application of the front brake is more likely to result in serious injury/death than back brakes. Therefore, should you need to panic stop, stomp on the back brake and don't grab at the front unless you're sure you can be measured about it.

(This advice gets criticized, and rightly so, when offered to people who have been motorcycling for a while. Proper application of both brakes stops you more quickly than just the application of one. But for beginners, it offers the best odds of not dying.)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I have been focusing on the rear brake for sudden stops, although I've played with both brakes at slow speeds to see how they affect th bike.

[dixiemouse.livejournal.com]

I am actually going to take the Motorcycle Certification this year (and get licensed)...

What I used to do, when I was shooting regularly, was to take a shirt, put it over the target, close my eyes, and then the person training me would move the target back, and randomly say, "Now!", at which point I would open my eyes and shoot... once I got the basics down, made it more interactive, I guess is the right term?

[savorie.livejournal.com]

I really hope they backed away about 15 feet from the target between moving it and shouting "Now!". :) I had a very different image from your description (thanks to a morbid brain).

[dixiemouse.livejournal.com]

Oh wow... *laugh* yeah... no, the way those lanes were set up, it was simple for him to either stand in the next aisle or behind me and move it...

Although, that may be fodder for a script... Thanks!! :)

[floppylala.livejournal.com]

Your experiences on the motorcycle reminds me of the joy I feel when riding a bike. Maybe there's some bike touring in your future! You just need to decide between Sturgis or Ragbrai!

[kimeidoplex.livejournal.com]

Totally unrelated. I just saw a posting for the Pillow Fight. Fond memories of bouncing pillows off your head last year. :-)

[danea.livejournal.com]

I've never fired an AK-47, but have had the opportunity to try several different calibers of handguns and a couple different rifles. It's definitely interesting comparing them, and learning the different ways of handling them.

I do intend to take the MSF course sometime soon -- hopefully this year. I've got a friend who's been begging me to go this spring but that's entirely out of the question. When I'll get around to actually getting my own bike is anyone's guess, and I suspect I'll take the course closer to that time.