[12x08] December 28th, 2008 [Vietnam Special]

[SVThuh]

This episode had me in tears. Especially when Clarkson took a dive on the scooter. Too damn funny. One of the best to date.

[tgbuddy]

Interesting episode, although it had nothing to do with cars (but then again, cars are barely affordable in Vietnam)

[pitdog]

anybody noticed, that the audience is the same as in the ep. 12x07? i am looking at the chicks, and they are the same. so - the audience got two episodes at one sitting, not to shabby.

[skylock]

Good spot. It was the same audience.

[Dr_Grip]

Of course... why should they invite a whole audience (and pay the presenters and the crew) for an extra day when there is only one Clarkson monologue to shoot? As much as we all love TG, that's a simple business descision

[m3cadet]

Ok I've watched the episode and it was pretty epic. I've been to Vietnam two years ago and here are my thoughts...

New scooters over there cost around $1000 so i'm not sure exactly what they did with the rest of the money that they saved by buying those bikes. Oh yeah they bought each other presents.

The traffic there is really controlled chaos. Try crossing the street. I think there is a video on youtube showing this. At first, I was really afraid, but you really just start walking into the street and they "pass" you. When you go to Vietnam, there are sounds of horns everywhere.

The food there is no so bad. Of course for entertainment purposes they chose to order the most extreme stuff there. I'm a pretty picky eater too and I probably would not eat any type of meat there. In most cites, there are small kiosk things that sell one of the most popular Vietnamese dished, which consists of rice noodles and beef flanks or meat balls. I usually ate that and it costs around $0.70 a bowl. Also in the main city, there was a KFC, and the food there was pretty good too.

I want to get one of those tailored suits too, but there not too cheap. Like $100 for a custom suit. It is obviously cheaper than in the states but nothing that I go cross country riding in.

[Aston Martin]

Just noticed this, I know it's scripted... but poor Darcy.

[Remote]

As a Canadian living in Vietnam, I have a slightly different perspective on this episode. I am going to say 6/10.

Why?

1. We know Clarkson has driven a motorbike in Vietnam before on his Motor World show. He could have said, he was not comfortable on a bike, but we can clearly see on youtube he has driven a scooter in Nam before and he even wrote a column about this in his newspaper.

2. Too many forced scenes...Richard with the boat in the fan..please I am not 12.

3. The American Chaley was tasteless and stupid. My landlady fought in the was and told me stories about the American GI and some of the stuff they did during the war..not something to be taken lightly..especially from English who suffered German bombs in the blitz.

4. Too many easily identifiable inaccuracies.

- The budget they had would have bought a perfectly rebuilt Honda Cub and Minsk. I can list links for many of these bikes for about $400 in good condition. I know because I have a Cub 70cc (same as James) I paid $200 for the bike and $150 for a new rebuilt engine. The Vespa would have cost a lot more that $1000 as they are quite popular with the younger Vietnamese.

- The whole driving license part was BS. First off it takes about 3 months just to do the paperwork and if a foreign national has a driving license from his home country then they don't need to do the classroom part, just the driving part and you have to use the bikes they supply to you (Honda Wave).

- You cannot take a train from Hue to Ha Long. You Have to transfer in Hanoi to get to Ha Long...that whole part was bs.

I am a huge TG fan and I was looking forward to this episode a lot, but it just didn't stack up to the others.

[Aston Martin]

Originally Posted by Remote

- You cannot take a train from Hue to Ha Long. You Have to transfer in Hanoi to get to Ha Long...that whole part was bs.

Good call... even the TG map shows that there's no train line there.






Still one of my top 3 episodes though.

[Remote]

Good call Aston.

Ha Long is not a very big city and I am not sure it even has a train station. Hai Phong is the 3rd largest city in Nam and a major port and it is quite close to Ha Long bay...they never actually went to the Ha long city.

Its stuff like the Darcey thing that I didn't like. I know even short trips here have amazing stories so I don't believe the scripted crap is necessary.

Here is a cup like James drove, http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/en/listi...8/Super-Cub-50 $225 and in good shape, one in perfect shape, with a 12v system vs the stock 6v wouldn't cost more that $400.

Top Gear bikes for sale in hanoi right now:

Minsk: http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/listing/show/2535
Cub: http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/listing/show/2465
Vespa: http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/listing/show/2432