When the elevator doors opened, my Dad and I were chatting excitedly about the adventure that was unfolding. We were greeted by a friendly, small Vietnamese man with a broad smile. He and his colleague had driven two motorcycles over from the bike rental which he guided us to.

The air was cool, we would be afforded a few hours of dry heat before the afternoon humidity would descend on My Tho, a small, modest town on the elbow of the "Nine Dragons River" of the Mekong Delta.

After a quick demonstration, the two men hopped on the back of a truck and sped off. My Dad and I laughed at the casual, but expected nature of the transaction. A license, experience and safety requirements were arbitrary issues, it's how South East Asia operates.

There was excitement, but it was inter-twined with a festering fear. I had driving experience on the lawless roads of Thailand, but Vietnam was a different animal. It was more chaotic, and it was on the right hand side which was new to me. This coupled with the fact I had never ridden a bike before was reasonable cause for concern.

We decided practicing up and down the quiet side street was the way forward. Despite our best efforts, we looked like two men who had never been on a bike. Changing the gears was tricky, and I was mixing up accelerating with braking, not ideal.

After 20 minutes it was time to hit the road. We had the whole day ahead of us. We hit the open road and drove into the country side. It was quiet and it helped us hone our skills. The beauty of our surroundings was encapsulating.

With our new confidence, we decided to take the motorway towards one of the "Dragons", or one of the islands in the river. The motorway was an experience, and at one point, traffic was swerving to avoid a man lying in the road, speaking on a mobile phone. He'd just crashed.

Driving with the wind in our face was immense. After a thorough exploration, we made for the city. It was rush our now. Sharp acceleration, breaking, left or right turns would result in a crash. The amount of motorbikes was incredible, we were boxed in. You had to fight for the space.

We reached the hotel and were sorry to part with our "hogs", but there was a quiet satisfaction we were still alive.