Saigon

We arrived in Saigon at dusk. Streams of light flowed through the streets. As our plane dropped lower it became apparent that the lights were mostly motorcycles. These lights would flow through the streets and group at the stoplights as traffic crossed the intersections. It all looked busy, but so orderly, from the air.

On the ground the Saigon airport was clean and new. I was a bit apprehensive about making it through customs. From everything that I have seen the Vietnamese don't have much of a sense of humor, at least not those who work for the government. We made it through without a problem. Outside of baggage claim we met our tour guide. His name is Minh. He is a veteran of the South Vietnamese Army. He was a pilot during the war. He had crashed three times. His right arm was scarred with burns from one of the crashes. He looked like a veteran of the war with his long, gray ponytail.

From the airport, Minh hired a cab for us to take us to our hotel near the center of Saigon. Since April 30, 1975, the fall of Saigon the city has been renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Many people, however still call it by its former name. Many people also catch themselves and correct the name as they describe the city.

The orderly flow of motorcycles from the air became a mad gush of traffic on the ground. There are over 6 million motorcycles in Saigon. There are lanes on the road; there are stoplights at intersections; there are crosswalks and sidewalks for pedestrians, but few people pay attention to these. Traffic stays to the right, sometimes. People stop their cars at red lights, sometimes. Sometimes a motorbike will drive down the sidewalk, just as sometimes a pedestrian will walk or cross through the middle of traffic. At intersections motorbikes will weave through the stopped cars to the front of the intersection. Cars will turn left from the extreme right lane across three lanes of traffic, patiently but persistently merging and weaving until they make it across. There are no turn arrows so cars and bikes will cross as they see openings. The openings are anywhere vehicles have a foot of space between them.

The best example I can give for traffic in Saigon is an anthill. Go out and find a hill of ants. For the most part the ants will follow established trail. Now kick it. Watch how the ants will all scurry off in different directions, crossing each other’s path, crawling over each other to reach their destination. This is traffic in Saigon.

Our hotel in Saigon was a three star hotel. The walls were stained with rain that had seeped through the windows and roof. The sounds of the traffic wafted up to our sixth floor window. That night we went to sleep with the sounds of Gloria Estefan singing on some stereo in the street below.