Saigon Musings

Just fitting in a quick muse on the fact that weare lucky to be alive after our day wandering around Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Minh City. It was with great relief that we arrived back at the hotel  in one piece.  In fact we celebrated the fact with a pot of tea and a beer on the roof  terrace, from which safe distance we could look down on the source of our near-death experience: Motorbikes and scooters.

 

 

Not just one or  two, but millions and millions of the things, coming at you from all angles:

 



Crossing the road becomes a real 'adventure' and there is a trick to doing it -basically you just keep walking and hope that the bikes (and cars and taxis and buses and anything else) has seen you, judged the speed that you are walking at and, making allowances, will miss you.  You will therefore arrive safe and sound on the other side of the  road.  But you do have to take into consideration the fact that it is not just traffic coming at you from the normal two directions.  Sometimes they cross over all of the traffic and come up the kerb at the zebra crossing you are walking on.

There are tourist security police/guards all over the city and at several crossings they confidently stode out into the traffic and we confidently followed, thinking, foolishly as it turned out, that the traffic would stop and that these nice young men would be the helpful, safe way of crossing the roads.  In fact, even though they have noticeable green uniforms on, the traffic just ignores these police too and it is just as dangerous crossing with them as without.

Then of course there are the added hazards which we hadn't expected. We were applying the wrong set of road rules, thinking that most countries would follow the same basic principles in road safety.  So when we were safely on the pavement after a rather stressful crossing of several roads at a roundabout we breathed a sigh of relief, only to find the bikes and scooters couldn't be bothered to wait for the lights at the junction and decided to use the pavement as their right of  way, so we nearly died as tens of bikes drove acoss our path:

Easier roads to cross were one way streets when you only had to worry about traffic coming from one direction, until walking along the pavement, you were tooted by a bike coming against the flow of the traffic but on the pavement rather than the road and irritated that you had the temerity to be walking in their way.  Finally we sought sanctuary in the parks, where there was peace and a bit of calm.

I have crossed roads in India, with added cows and elephants, as well as roads in Cairo with the extra excitement of Ramadan and drivers who haven't eaten enough trying to get home for their food at sunset, but I don't think I have experienced anything like these Saigin roads!