FUNKY WHEELS and home engineering, this page got a major boost when I got to my Vietnam pics!
Jeepneys are the famed Filipino offspring of US Army jeeps left behind after WWII. These elongated workhorses are the back-bone of rural transport networks.
The humble Honda Cub surpassed the VW Beetle for production numbers, functioning as the family car in large parts of Asia.
If Jeeps could talk, this battled hardened veteran would have a story or two. It was certainly a better choice than my 2WD hatch for the exhuasting 160km drive between Mindat and Matupi, Burma.
Pimp my tractor? Similar to Cambodia's workshopped generator powered trucks, Burma has the low-rider stretch tractor.
A classic Asian wagon, on Bilu island, a sleepy rural hamlet opposite the sleepy town of Mawamyine, Burma.
Early model BSA B40, which I purchased in Yangon and drove around Burma. It kept shitting itself and having to rest very few hours.
The Burmese city of Pathein has historically been a trading post. An overloaded barge heads down the Bassein River.
A boatman and passenger share a cigarette on the river leaving Mrauk U, Burma.
Vietnam excells in vehicular creativity and pushing the limits of safety.
A smorgasbord of vehicles at a Saigon bus terminal: belching Soviet trucks, clapped out Desoto buses, 150cc Honda (xe om) taxis (with or without wagons), a couple of bicycle carts and a food cart all in the mud and muck.
Down in the Mekong Delta now, a wagon hitched to a motorcyle acts as a taxi. I count 8 passengers.
River transport tends to be more graceful. A sail of hessian bags helps a young lad go to market in Cantho.
The Mekong River empties through southern Vietnam, where waterways are still vital for trade and commerce.
Back in Saigon, ferries bound slowly for the Delta towns are aided by a motorised wagon and a hybrid tuk-tuk/cage.
I haven't been back to Saigon since the city began restricting cyclos from large parts of the city, a crazy move designed to falsely portray modernisation.
Another common site in 90s Saigon, the Hanoi bound backpacker. This (Czech) MZ is a better choice than the common Minsk. It was not unusual to see TWO people, two backpacks and a guitar on one of those. (No experience needed....)
An old Soviet engine car pulls the train along the Hai Van Pass, north of Danang, one of the most scenic sections of Vietnam's Unification Line.
The detachable wagon. Unlike a cyclo, the cycle and the carriage are separate units, and it can also be hitched to a motorcycle.
I wonder if these boats still ply the delta rivers? I took one down to Mytho, crammed down below with a thousand families.
An old (is there any other kind) barge for transporting bulk goods like rice, moored just outside Mytho.
The cycle wagon, Saigon, 1994. Perfect for hauling garbage and kids. Now gaining popularity in Fitzroy.
A Saigon passenger ferry finds room for a Vespa and a Honda. Nothing unusual - I have had my own motorcyle carried on the roof a bus.
Last from Vietnam, the food wagon. What would Asia be without these wheeled maestros, dinging their bells or honking their horns?
The overland, long distance motorcyle, seen in Arkaroola, outback South Australia. Note the custom super sized fuel tank.
The humble caravan is humble no more. Gone is the cramped can which Ma and Pa used to make a cup of tea and sleep soundly. TVs, satelite dish, lounges, dishwashers. McMansions on wheels.
Mr Wrights flying machine. A six-seater Cessna about to do a scenic flight over the magnificent Flinders Ranges, Australia.
Incredibly overloaded bicycles on the Cambodian side of its border with Vietnam. I guess that one bicycle load is allowed in without import duty.
An APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) in Cambodia's Battambang Province, 1995, at a time when the last remnants of the Khmer Rouge were holed up not far away in Pailin.
Engineering marvels, the home-made truck fleets of Cambodia.
A share taxi on the Battambang-Pailin road, Cambodia, 1996.
The UN bars its staff from hiring private security. In Somalia, a vehicle like this became known as a "technical", shorthand for the "technical advisers" that operated them. This is zooming past the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A driver in the 4-hour Cyclo Race, takes a corner at high speed, in Phnom Penh, Camdodia, 1995.
Battered and bruised fire engines in Cambodia.
A bus approaches the Central Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where buses ferry cargo as much as they do passengers.
A truck in Siem Reap, Cambodia, stripped back to its most basic.
Cycle taxis in Siem Reap, Cambodia. They are (were?) common in Thailand, but unusual in Phnom Penh.
A long train ride under the hot Cambodian sun, made longer by numerous cargo stops, 1996.
A DJ 3-wheeler. An auto-rickshaw with the most awful sounds system known to man, in Hyderabad, India. Ear-splittingly bad.
The front end of a Korean car, with the back end of an auto-rickshaw. Sivasagar, Assam, India.
Safari jeep, Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India. This one has got far too close to the mother of an injured elephant, as a result of driving too fast and ignoring other vehicles.