Saigon Traffic

A thousand motorcycles and scooters bearing down, their drivers wearing helmets and masks to give some protection for the overwhelming air pollution. Cars, lorries, bicycles weaving in and out, honking and breaking. Pedestrians dodging, running, looking this way and that. Bicycles going the opposite direction. You have to cross this street and there is no letup in the oncoming streams of traffic going both ways. You have to take the first step and enter the melee. If you don't, you might stand on this corner forever. It requires courage...and some experience. You take one last look at the traffic flow, trying to gauge the speed and distance of the first motorcycle hurtling down the street, and step out. You pass the first hurdle, slipping behind 14 scooters in a pack. You take a few more steps and a Mercedes is coming right at you. At the last second, it veers slightly, enough you you to step ahead and go a few more feet. A bus is belching smoke and taking up three quarters of your vision. It's horn like a nuclear bomb. Suddenly, there is a break in the traffic and just as suddenly it closes and you are surrounded by a moving island of honking, speeding cycles taking no quarter and giving none. Trapped like a rat, you have to move straight ahead or retreat. If they see fear in your eyes, you're a goner. A car turns left from the far right lane. The sea of vehicles part ever so slightly to let it pass through. There's your chance, and you dart ahead only to be confronted my another hoard coming the other way. You realize you have made it halfway across the street. Putting your life in your hands, you keep moving and bob and weave and play the game. And that's what it is. The craziest game in this big, bustling, loud and progressive city of Saigon. A sea of humanity and vehicles all speeding ahead, turning and changing lanes with no signals, all hurrying to get somewhere, all the lives in balance. You let three or four cycles pass dangerously close, make a bit more headway, a rickshaw passes, another step to the right, then two cars, a few more steps...and you are THERE. On the opposite corner - sweet success! And all this done with a good natured determination on everyone's part...and with no malice. Only four more blocks to go...