Upper Middle Petrol Head:

A plaque erected above this Austin car, photographed in Hue, Vietnam, says all that needs to be said: In this car the Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc went from An Quang Pagoda to the intersection of Phan Dinh Phung Street and Le Van Duyet Street on June 11, 1963, in Saigon. As soon as he got out of the car, The Most Venerable sat down in the lotus position and burnt himself to death to protest against the Ngo Dinh Diem regime's policies of discriminating against Buddhists and violating religious freedom. Rest in peace, The Most Venerable. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) All iPhone images.

This rather odd-looking contraption, photographed in the UNESCO-listed Vietnamese city of Hoi An, is a classic French-built Mobylette moped ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobylette ).   It is a moped in the true sense of the term,  being, as it is, powered by a combination of a mo tor and ped als ( mo - ped ).  No matter what you're told, the word  moped  is  not  a synonym for motor scooter (unless the scooter also has pedals, that is!).   And, while we're at it, there's no such thing as a quad-bike, either, unless said conveyance has eight wheels.   (Think about it:   Bi ke =  bi cycle, meaning two wheeled;  quad = four of.  Therefore, a quad-bike = 4 x 2 = 8!) * .  But we digress ... The sad absence of classic cars in Vietnam was mitigated to a degree by the presence of quite a few classic motorcycles and scooters, the main marque represented being the Italian Vespa.   This predominance  of two-wheeled conveyances shouldn't really be a surprise, though

What traveller hasn't been given a "when you're in (insert pretty much any destination you've ever thought of going to), you must do / see / go to / eat at ..." recommendation, only to find the experience not nearly as great as the enthusiastic advice-giver made it out to be?  I have.  My lovely wife has, too.  As a result, we're often wary of the hot-tip, must-do experiences that we're not infrequently told we really, really should try. So what was it about night-touring through bustling Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam's south, on the back of a vintage Vespa motor scooter that piqued our interest?  Dear Wife wasn't keen (ten days already spent in the country was enough to convince us that Vietnam's chaotic traffic was well beyond our understanding, let alone our ability to participate in and survive its apparent madness and sheer volume).  She's not a big fan of two-wheeled conveyances, either!     Photo supplied:  Vespa Adventu