My last day on my own - for awhile

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Today is my last day on my own and tonight I am joining a tour group. We will be travelling in southern Vietnam and into Cambodia for 9 days. I'll stay on for an extra four days in Siem Reap and then fly to Nha Trang where I will begin my volunteer assignment (Feb 5). Not sure if I'll have access to a computer on my next leg of the journey, so I'll update this blog when I do find internet access.

So today's observation is on the traffic in Saigon. When I arrived at two AM (the number keys on this keyboard do wonky things so sometimes I have to rephrase words or write out numbers), the streets were relatively quiet but I was kind of surprised when the cab driver never stopped for any lights and just honked when he approached an intersection. Well imagine my surprise in the morning when I awoke to the lovely sound of millions of motorcycles, cars and mopeds honking. So here are the rules of road in Saigon (HCMC). ă. The bigger the vehicle, the greater the right of way.
b. Honking does not mean you are mad at someone, it just means "here I come"
c. Street lights are a bothersome technicality. Most cars seem to observe the lights (the few there are) but motorcyles have the option to observe the light or not and mopeds are exempt from any rules. (bicycles too)
d. The more stuff and the more people you can put on your motorcycle, the better. Tying a small tree onto the back of your bike is A-OK. Putting the whole family - Mom, Dad, kids, grandparents and babies is permitted. Even dogs can come along if you can balance it.
e. Converting the back or the front of the motorcycle into a truck is permissible if you need to operate a hauling business.

Crossing the street is an adventure. There are marked crosswalks, but it is not necessary to only walk in crosswalks. I think they painted them there to point out to tourists the least likely place you will be run over. Look both ways, because sometimes you are on a one way street, but oh, look - a motorcycle has decided to take a short cut and go against the traffic. Let buses and cars pass, because they won't stop for you as you cross the street. Once you see a bit of a break in traffic, proceed at a steady pace across the street. The motorcycles and mopeds that are heading your way will honk, but swerve around you if you just keep a steady pace. The key is to look like you know what you are doing. In the four days I've been here, I have yet to have seen an accident!

As you can imagine, parking motorcycles is a big deal hear. Just as in Europe, cars seem to park everywhere on the sidewalk, so here motorbikes park everywhere. You often have to walk on the street to walk past all the bikes. There seem to be some bike "police" around because there are men in uniforms yelling at bikers every once in a while.

I've attached a video clip of the Vietnames Water Puppet Theatre which I attended the day before yesterday. Great show. Videos take forever to download so I might not be able to do too many more, but I'll try again next time.
Happy New Year (Tet) everyone - tonight is New Years Eve and the next two days will be days of celebration.
Until next time!

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Comments

[Shelley Booth]

Finding your motorbike
Hi Flo, finding your parked motorbike must be like finding your black suitcase at the airport carousel! Looks like you are adapting well as always! Your proud friend Shelley

[erika hiob]

pictures
So glad you're doing great Flo. We're just loving the pictures and the way you capture the people in them. A great adventure. Erika and Harv