Random Notes on Vietnam

Crossing the street here goes against all instinct. Look both ways, see throngs of vehicles coming at you, and walk into them. If you wait for a break in traffic you’ll wait all day, so you put aside everything that feels natural, cross your fingers and step off the curb. Motorbikes swerve around you and in front of you but don't slow down. Buses honk, and in that case you stop in the middle of the road and wait while cars merge around you. Turning vehicles absolutely do not yield to pedestrians, and it’s up to you to pause mid-step for motorbikes, not the other way around. It still doesn’t make sense to me and I’m amazed more people don’t get hit, but I’m getting better at striding into traffic without hesitation. And the traffic is intense. Six million motorbikes for a city of 10 million means the streets are flooded with them. Honda and Suzuki are making a killing here. Sidewalks exist, but are used for parking and makeshift restaurants, so we end up walking single file in the road, inching past fruit carts and balloon salesmen. We’re also in the small percentage of women that don’t wear a mouth covering, like the face masks doctors wear, but decorated with animals and patterns. We were perplexed by this for days. Are they blocking the sun? But then we saw them at night. Is it because of the recent bird flu outbreak? We were about to buy our own  if that was the case. Men wear them too, and it turns out they’re because of air pollution. This is smart, but it’s interesting to us because the air here really doesn’t seem that polluted and in general Vietnam seems cleaner than many other countries.

Lastly, the people are extremely friendly and helpful. More than anywhere else I’ve ever visited, (except maybe Jordan). I can’t wait to come back someday and spend more time touring other cities!