Cycle Chic in Vietnam

Many thanks to Al, from Philadelphia, USA, for sending us these shots from Vietnam.
"I love the blog and I was looking forward to having a chance to send these to you. My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Vietnam, including a bike tour around the Mekong Delta.

Although much of the country's transportation has converted from bikes to scooters (25million scooters and counting), there is still some great cycle culture. The school kids mostly bike home from school and, as I understand it, adolescent girls often have these fantastic white silk school uniforms (younger girls do not, and not all schools seemed to require this outfit) and they are a vision.

The girls in these pictures were within a few hundred yards of the road turning to dirt and I presume they were just going to continue on their way -white silk clothes on dirt roads... Two of these girls are also demonstrating a common way of riding with a friend -just sit on the rack and many of the rack-riders help pedal by placing their feet on the outermost edges of the pedals.
thanks, Al

We'll do the thanking, Al! Thanks for these lovely shots.

Guest Photos Amsterdam, Vietnam and... Hackney!?

This great little website is often linked to. A tourist took 82 photos in 73 minutes on a square in Amsterdam. He was amazed at all the bikes.

Our reader, Matt, sent us this photo of Cycle Chic from Vietnam:
"I snapped this on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam, in the spring of 2005. It's a reminder that many people are CycleChic because other options are few. True flower power here! Thanks for all your great photos. Matt."
And thanks to you, Matt, for your wonderfully colourful photo.

There are two phrases that, until now, have never been uttered in the same breath in the history of man. "Hackney Council" and "Cycle Chic". The East London Borough put on a "Heels & Wheels" fashion show in the historic flower market, touting the bicycle as a fashion accessory.

Councillor Alan Laing, Hackney Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said:
“It’s fantastic to see so many people turn out to support the Councils’ efforts to promote cycling as a sustainable form of transportation. We hope the Wheels and Heels event demonstrated our commitment to achieving a greater uptake of cycling, particularly amongst young women, by showing how practical and fashionable it can be as well a being a great way to stay fit and get around.”

The Cycle Chic message is spreading like a flowing summer's dress caught in a gust of wind. Yes, I actually just wrote that... :-)
Here's Hackney Council's cycling website. A fine initiative, we say.