Walking riff #1

Walking in Saigon is, like most things in life, both easy and difficult at the same time. 

It seems important to point out that almost NO ONE walks in the city. Or at least views walking is anything more than that thing you have to do to get on your bike. Bed to bike. Bike to bed. It's a simple process. 

So telling someone from Saigon that you've just walked for 30 mins is akin to telling someone in western society - let's say, your mother - that you've started taking smack. It doesn't process.

It's easy to see why this is the case. Saigon is warm. And sticky. And no one in the history of human conversation has ever come back from a good walk describing it as 'warm and sticky'. 

But then there are advantages to walking too.The general aversion to bipedal transportation means that the paths are free. And everyone driving means that traffic is crazy. By walking you get to see the city at a much slower pace and are much less likely arrive at your destination stressed and raging about 'some dude' who cut you up. 

Yes it takes longer. And yes, it's more sweaty. But my entire life experience to date has taught me that things that take longer and are sweaty are nearly almost always good for you.

 

Traffic riff #2

The path and the road should never be seen as separate entities in Saigon but rather two different spaces waiting to be filled. Driving on the path is as acceptable as walking out into oncoming traffic. There are no rules, or at least no observable ones.

The closest thing one could get some sort of shared code would be that motion is always preferable to no motion, regardless of the circumstance. Going the wrong way up a one way street is totally fine. Driving in the wrong lane during rush hour will cause nothing more than mild annoyance. But stopping in any other situation than to avoid a direct collision is strictly taboo.

Understanding and accepting this lawlessness is essential to getting around Saigon. The city boasts many zebra crossings but the observance of which has gone the way of all other road rules i.e. strict non-observance. The only thing that matters is whether the space you are trying to enter into is occupied or unoccupied. Once you accept this, the whole process becomes a lot easier.