Nonsense Hour: Getting Started in Vietnam

Hong Kong was a gentle introduction to Asia, but now we have started backpacking for real!

Ho Chi Minh City
From Hong Kong, we flew to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The first thing we noticed in HCMC is mayhem: hundreds of people on motorbikes, zooming around unmarked streets, coming within centimeters of each other, carry huge loads while driving, texting while driving, carry babies while driving, texting while carrying babies while driving and, as if that weren't dangerous enough, there are no traffic lights. In rare cases where there are traffic lights, they are treated as purely decorative and optional.

There is just one rule: the bigger vehicle has the right of way. So buses are king, then vans, cars, then motorbikes, regular bikes and, in last place, pedestrians. It's no mystery why there are so few pedestrians. Crossing the street is fairly simple: hold your breath, close your eyes, and start walking confidently. Please refer to Indiana Jones and the last Crusade to better understand what it feels like (see the path of God).

The next thing we noticed after overcoming this minor obstacle is just how much happens on HCMC's sidewalks. Small restaurants, shops, street vendors, etc. take possession of the sidewalk. This leaves no room for pedestrians and walking mostly happens on the road, where -see above- there are large predators such as killer buses. To our surprise, this all seems to work and we saw no actual deaths or collisions in our 2 days there.

The Mekong
After HCMC, we headed south to explore the Mekong. Our first stop was a city called Can Tho which, judging by the fact that the children all waved to us and tried to touch us, doesn't get many tourists. We spent a day walking around and woke up at 5 am one morning to take a rickety boat to the floating market. Also, we had a premium brunch at the best hotel in town for a whopping $3.5. We are pretty fancy.

Jeremy and Alina,
Seeking Out Nonsense So You Don’t Have To