Vietnam Travel – Get Behind Clarkson.
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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from one of our UK readers, Alex Pomeroy. Please see his full bio below.
When it comes to tours to Vietnam it would seem impossible to herald controversial BBC television presenter Jeremy Clarkson as viable inspiration. However few documentaries about the region have offered the insight or inspired so much travel to a destination as the BBC Top Gear Vietnam special.
Hai Van Pass by the mechanical turk via Flickr.
First aired as a Christmas show in 2008, the unmistakable trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are tasked to travel one thousand miles from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to Ha Long Bay (near Hanoi) in the North. They must complete this feat on Vietnam’s two wheeled icon – the low powered motorcycle! The three middle-aged westerners are thrown headlong into Vietnam and all it has to offer and despite the extensive support crew, encountering the usual trepidations and anxieties of the inexperienced tourist. They traverse the self-policing chaos of the Vietnamese streets and highways, the torrential downpours of the monsoon season that batter to the point of submission, and the reluctance to try foreign food from Hammond, countered by “experimental” eating from his co-presenters.
Amid the comedic aspects of the narrative, interspersed are constant reminders as to Vietnams enchanting culture and landscape. The trio motor along the Hai Van Mountain Pass described by Clarkson as “a deserted ribbon of perfection”. They continually encounter ever industrious, welcoming and resourceful locals in the perpetual fixing of the presenters failing bikes. On a steep mountain road James May becomes the recipient of an act of Vietnamese hospitality after his Russian Minsk motorcycle runs out of petrol amid the teeming rain.
On the road in Vietnam by toehk via Flickr.
The show does not seek refuge in outwardly perceived stereotypes, as you might expect from a trio of protagonists famed for their inability to court favor with anything other than the homogony of home. In a break from the usual, simple profiling of cars the show playfully manages to relay the presenters captivation by Vietnam’s idiosyncrasies, its natural wonder and its culture. Indeed, the viewer is offered poignant reminders of the country’s violent history, as the trio visits the bullet torn Citadel of Hue, which was the scene of hugely bloody and significant battle as part of the Tet Offensive.
In a sequence filmed on the beach at Hoi An Richard Hammond encounters a war veteran now deaf as a result of his role in the defense against B52 bombers. The pair communicate through words and symbols, which the man scribbles creatively into the sand. The interaction between the two is surprisingly moving and a reminder of what awaits the open minded traveller in Vietnam.
Just to remind us of exactly which show we’re watching, the gaudy specter of a Stars and Stripes motorbike haunts the trio, as if it were willing them to return to nothing other than clichéd derivatives, however as they wind their way up the country’s bustling roads, the threat of the ill conceived bike dissipates.
The Tonkinese Alps (Sapa, Vietnam) by jmhullot via Flickr.
Top Gear, loathed by many, but seemingly loved by even more displays in this “special” its propensity for more than simple finger pointing and crude, mocking gesticulation. The Vietnam road trip is an accessible and imaginative spin off from the usual full throttle aspersion, which everyone should consider watching.
Alex is a freelance travel writer and copywriter with an MA in Creative Writing. One of his favourite methods of discovering a new country is to watch a local football game and work his way through every regional delicacy he can lay his hands on. As well as indulging in travel writing he also writes regularly for numerous UK sports and lifestyle publications. Check out Alex’s Google+ profile.
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