Xe…em?

“Xe om” or “Honda om” (motorbike taxi), is a popular public transport means in Vietnam and some other Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand. Xe om is preferred by local residents as well as some expatriates, especially backpackers, for they are cheap and available almost everywhere, anytime. Short trips cost just VND5,000, medium VND10,000 and anything longer can be negotiated.

Traditionally an industry for males, people may be surprised to learn that in HCM City the contingent of xe om drivers include women, and, according to Nguoi Lao dong (the Laborer) newspaper, the number is on the increase.

Hong, a young woman xe om driver at Ben Xe Mien Dong Passenger Car Terminal, says she has been on the job for almost a year. A native of Rach Gia Township in the Mekong Delta’s Kien Giang Province, when Hong came to HCM City, she met a compatriot who is a xe om driver. This female driver helped Hong take up the job. She then bought a Chinese-made motorbike and joined the growing army of female xe om drivers.

“Xe om” literally means “motorbike hug” but this is figurative, not literal term. However, female xe om drivers find sexual harassment to be a real threat. At first, Hong dared to transport only female or elderly passengers. After a while she accepted males, and recalled an incident in which she coped with a flirtatious passenger. While driving on a remote street, the man began to embrace and caress her. She suddenly stopped the bike and used a martial arts move to throw the man to the ground. Hong produced a nunchaku weapon, two sticks joined with a flexible cord, for our examination. She keeps them within quick reach in a bag hung from the handlebars.

Xe om is really a challenging trade for females. Drivers must have good health, skill and the courage to surmount the bias and disrespect from certain segments of society.

(from The Saigon Times Weekly, 2003)

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