(This is a feeling
of women when she visits Ho Chi Minh city)
The fear was almost paralysing. I really don’t think I can do this. I am
just not brave enough to cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City, (formally Saigon) Vietnam is quickly becoming one of
the more popular tourist destinations and it’s not hard to see why. A bustling
mega city in the middle of Southeast Asia, it is not the picture of Vietnam I
had in my mind. Far from the war torn scary jungles where the locals have a
deep embedded hatred for all foreigners. The Vietnamese people are some of the
kindest I have ever met. They welcome tourists with open arms and big grins and
will go out of their way to make you feel special. In fact, the only thing scary
about Ho Chi Minh City is trying to cross the street.
I was in Vietnam visiting a friend of mine who was teaching English and
she had generously offered to take me on a walking tour. As we turned the
corner from the side street of her apartment onto a main street I stood in
frozen amazement. Never in my life had I seen so many motorbikes. Hundreds upon
hundreds of them were zipping and darting in every imaginable direction with no
noticeable rules. It was the picture of absolute pandemonium.
There are over 9 million people living in the city and 4 million of them
have motorbikes. The city has a car tax so people will fit everything and
anything on the back of their bikes. Family of five, small fridge, 50 roasted
ducks, big fridge, children in a car seat, 25 packing boxes. Just when I
thought that I had seen everything that could ever possibly go on a motorbike
one drove by with 3 kids, 12 watermelons and a dead pig (I’m not making this
up).
The only law regarding motorbikes that I saw was that they must wear a
helmet. Other than that they seemed free to ride where and how they pleased. I
actually held my breath watching them squeeze and manoeuvre through and around
obstacles that would halt the most experienced stunt driver.
The blended cocktail of fuel, exhaust and heat engulfed and almost over
loaded my senses, causing me to feel a touch light headed. Many of the
motorbike riders wore surgical masks in an attempt to block this harsh odour.
Constant buzzing from the bikes sounded like thousands of angry bees on
steroids. The near permanent sound of honking added to the melody of madness.
The streets were a steadfast sea of motorbikes and I had to try to cross them.
I was staring wide eyed at the kaleidoscope of chaos when my friend
informed me on the way you cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City.
You just go. But you must remember to walk slowly. The ‘penguin shuffle’
as she calls it, so the motorbikes can gage where you will be and swerve around
you. If you walk too fast they will not be able to tell where you will end up
and then they will hit you or another bike.
Going against every instinct in my body I stepped off the curb staring
at the waves upon waves of speeding motorbikes heading straight for me. At this
point my natural survival instinct kicked in and my body told me to run, just
get to the other side as quickly as possible. But I knew I couldn’t do that.
Instead I took a deep breath and began my penguin shuffle slowly across the
street. I could feel the arm hair of the motorbike drivers as they weaved
around me like desert snakes. My boisterous heart beat adding the base to the
mad melody.
My mind repeated only one thought; I am going to die, I am going to die.
That’s the thing about life, it presents you with challenges that at
first glance seem impossibly terrifing. You just have to take a breath, hurl
yourself into the fear and do your best impression of being brave.
As I stepped onto the curb, I feel like a solider returning from enemy
terrain back to the safety of home soil. I quietly thank God for getting me to
the other side of the street and turned to make sure that against all odds my
friend has also managed to make it unharmed. She informed me that it gets
easier each time you do it and soon I wouldn’t even notice.
Won’t notice putting my life on the line each and every time I need to
cross the street? Won’t notice hundreds of screaming motorbikes blazing right
at me? I cannot believe that people do this every day. I knew the Vietnamese
were a brave people given the amount of war they had to endure in their
countries history, but I had no idea how brave.
Source: thetravelingwaitress.com/2016/02/cheating-death-in-ho-chi-minh-city/