Have you ever played the game Frogger on Nintendo where you have to try to get from one side of the road to the other without getting clobbered by oncoming objects? The 2 days spent in Ho Chi Minh City felt like we were in a video game.
There are absolutely NO traffic laws. Driving in the opposite direction, driving on the wrong side of the street, weaving in and out of other vehicles, driving through red lights at the same speed as green lights, or even driving on the sidewalks....anything goes.
Riding in our tour van nauseated us and gave us heart palpitations but crossing the street made us fear for our lives! The traffic flow was constant and there were no crosswalks. We just had to step out into the street and pray that the motorbikes wouldn't hit us as they weaved around us.
Fortunately we had Vu, our trusted Vietnamese guide from the Mekong Delta. We learned a lot from him during our short visit to Ho Chi Minh:
1) the best restaurant in Vietnam has a head chef who is an architect...although he can't cook the entryway doors are beautiful
2) the person with the largest hat in the Vietnam army is the guy with the biggest head
but most importantly...
3) Instead of looking both ways when crossing the road, just walk.
And so that is what we did and amazingly we left the city in one piece.
(Don't believe me? Watch the video below!)
Wow, Marisa-you know what Grandma would say: Who needs it, stay home!
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