This evening I headed out to the Ben Thanh District to meet Patrick, who lives at The Manor, for some dinner. I left my house in the Phu Nhuan District in the middle of a rainstorm which was unusual for November. Lots of standing water, my biggest complaint for Saigon this year.
I headed towards District 1 before turning left on Dien Bien Phu street from Hai Ba Trung. As I got near the Saigon River Bridge, I turned left on Nguyen Huu Canh street and headed towards The Manor.
Whoops!!!
I noticed immediately that there were not much traffic on this street but saw a car in the distance so I thought it was okay. Then I saw the water but I thought it was still okay since my motorbike was high enough. I played it smart and rode near the curb on the left side of Nguyen Van Canh then all of a sudden the water rose up very fast. Too late for me to turn around. My motorbike was flooded and died. I had to wade through knee deep water. I got my motorbike unto the sidewalk but it would not start. Some young Vietnamese guys tried to restart my motorbike but to no avail.
I then pushed my motorbike to The Manor and parked it in the parking garage. Patrick and I later came back down to see if we could start it up. The parking garage attendant and another Vietnamese guy tried to dry the spark plug but there was still too much water inside my motorbike’s muffler.
I left my motorbike at The Manor and plan to pick it up tomorrow morning hoping it will dry out thoroughly during the night. By the morning it should be running. If not, then I will just head to the Yamaha Service Center and get a new ‘dry’ spark plug.
Next time I should just avoid the flooded streets.
Yeah, Patrick is having a big laugh 🙂
LOL!
My rule of thumb is “You go first, I follow you next”
I remember seeing some older guy run through high waters. He almost made it til his bike stalled out and he tipped over.
I rode my yamaha home last evening taking special care to avoided the flooded areas of the road only to come home to find my house flooded.
JJ:
That is my rule of thumb too. Some motorbikes did make it through no problem. I was just on the wrong part of the road that was deeper. I hope to recover my motorbike in one hour.
@R. Streitmatter-Tran:
That is horrible. My house is high enough to avoid the road flooding but my balcony in my room always backs up during a deluge and floods the inside of my house twice a year.
Hope everything is okay.