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Published: July 13th 2011
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I'm taking the night train to Da Nang, so I have the whole day in Saigon ... so lots of time for more walking. As you'll see from the pictures, Saigon is a bustling place. Motorbikes are to Saigon now what bicycles were to Beijing 20 years ago (I hear Beijing is all cars now.) Everyone has one and there's lots of traffic but miraculously not many accidents, considering the road rules seem haphazard at best. OK ... typical Asian road rules I guess.
Motorcycles flow through each other in traffic like two separate jets of water flow through each other. As a pedestrian, you have to just go with the flow - literally. If you hesitate you'll never cross the road, but as long as you keep a steady pace and just do the Zen thing across the road, the riders will make their best judgment and either go in front of you or behind you. They get quite close, but never really touch. Must be an asymptotic function.
There's motorbikes not just on the streets in the lanes they are supposed to be on, but also going in the opposite direction, or going in the cars lane,
and of course riding on the side walks too. And the motorbikes can carry all kinds of stuff ... from bundles of empty water bottles stacked sky high, to entire families - that's mom and dad and three kids ... the youngest in front of dad, the middle kid standing up between mom and dad and the oldest kid kind of grabbing onto mom at the back of the bike.
Of course, they all have helmets ... well kind of. Ex US army GI combat helmet have got a new life as motorbike helmets. They may be good at stopping bullets and such, but I'm not quite sure they were designed with road accidents in mind. The little kids look quite cute in way over-sized helmets. It's just part of everyday life for them.
And all these bikes have to park somewhere. Most of the time, that right on the sidewalk. After all, pedestrians can walk on the street and take their chances with the other vehicles already there. Pedestrians and eyes, ears and a brain, so they'll survive out on the street. The parked motorbikes will likely get hit or stolen if left on the street.
So, I joined the motorcycle brigade by hopping on the back of one to visit the history museum. Yes, motorbikes also act as cheapo taxis. And at every street corner, you are accosted by guys lying back on their bikes asking "moto sir?" Well, the ride was uneventful, except the museum was closed on Mondays! So, that left me with my back up plan of walking by the Saigon river and through the ritzy shopping area (anyone who knows me, knows I don't shop ... I don't even notice the merchandise in the store windows ... so can't even call it window shopping. I do notice fruit stands and interesting scenery ... just not in the stores.)
The latest fad sport in Ho Chi Minh City was what I'll call hackeysack++ or Hackeysack the next generation. It's appeara to be the same rules as hackeysack but played with a plastic badminton shuttlecock like thingy that is an inch in diameter and about 6 inches long. Some of the street players are really good to watch.
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