VietBlog

From our traveling companion Steven Deci:

As children we are told to look both ways to make sure no cars are coming before crossing the street. In Viet Nam, this presents a problem. For Ho Chi Minh City, the streets are packed full of motorbikes zooming around in all directions. There is rarely a break in the flow of motorbikes. It is one continuous river. You really have to put your life in to your hands in order to cross a street. Although cars are coming, you have to slowly walk into the on coming traffic. This is very scary. The object is to make your move obvious to the drivers. You never move backwards, nor do you abruptly change speed. Every move you make needs to be predictable. You have to be a slowly moving rock crossing the white water river.

Though the one thing that is in favor of the pedestrians is the fact that the motorbike drivers do not want to damage their motorbikes. The cost of a motorbike is relatively expensive for the Vietnamese. I saw one place selling them for roughly $3500. You might think this is not that much; however, we were able to feed twenty people for less than $50. If their motorbike is damaged, it might be out of commission for a while.

This also prevent many accidents and allows for very few traffic laws and no enforcement of them. Even with thousand of motorbikes on the streets, we have only heard/seen two accidents so far on this trip. But those accidents that do occur are horrific. I personally did not see the aftermath of the accident, but I heard from others about it. A bus completely destroyed a motorbike. The condition of the driver was unknown; however, a pair of sandals and a puddle of a liquid, that could have been oil or something else, was seen. This devastation is likely the main reason for the ability of the drivers to move as one.

A Video of some Aussies amazed by the traffic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vUiuEgCY3E

This is a video on how one actually makes it across this river of motorbikes ad cars:

(It has all the noises but the fella speaking can’t be heard. )