I am convinced that Vietnamese people can fix anything! The ultimate handymen and women and jack of all trades; they can stop a leaky faucet, repair a broken fan, run a business from their living room, feed the neighborhood from their front porch, make paint from shells, and take apart and put back together a motorbike with their eyes closed and one hand tied behind their back.
Being considered a "jack of all trades" has always had a negative connotation. It implies that you like to dabble in bits of everything, but never achieve the expertise to be considered a master in any one area. The Vietnamese, however, have struck a balance between generalist and specialist. They are decently good at many many things, but they are great with a motorbike.
Now, as a case in point is their ability to start up any hunk of junk motorbike (like mine) with one quick flick of the wrist. I, for example, can stand there for 10 minutes trying to kick start my bike, following all of the rules I have been told by other Vietnamese; don't touch the gas, hold down the brake, and still nothing. Whereas, a Vietnamese person, man, woman, and child alike, will see me in distress, walk up to me, shoo me off the bike, and BOOM, the bike is running. It NEVER fails! I have yet to meet a Vietnamese person, who was unable to start my bike on the first try, not to mention with little or no effort at all. Every single time, the story is the same. I try and try and try to start my bike, frustation starts to set in, and like clockwork, along comes a little old Vietnamese man, or a teenage girl, or best yet, the 9 year old boy from the down street, smiling and saying "ok ok" as they kick the bike into gear and send me on my way.
