@Dannyroc3
I bought and ride a bicycle all over the place in District 1 and 3. I bought it at a bike shop locally in D 3. Here's what I wrote to a friend back in North America:
The first bit is that I bought a bicycle and have really, really enjoyed riding it around the core of Ho Chi Minh City, aka District 1, where I live. Traffic here by American standards is chaotic. On the other hand, my correspondents in India think that Vietnamese drivers are forgiving, accommodating, patient, and full of kindness. Perhaps that indicates that traffic in India is even more chaotic and replete with aggressive drivers. Almost nobody here is an aggressive driver and when I get in a Grab car (the local version of Uber) and the driver is the least bit aggressive, I really notice because most people here just don鈥檛 drive like that. Americans will be surprised at the amount of horn honking that goes on. Here it is not an emergency or even a close call that provokes such an action. Honking one鈥檚 horn here means, 鈥淗ere I am, please notice me! Here I am! Steer clear of me, please!鈥� It is definitely polite, not rude.
In the United States, the concept of who has 鈥渢he right-of-way鈥� is foundational to how traffic flows. That is not the case here. One indication is that there are many, many large intersections here that are completely uncontrolled: no traffic light, no stop sign, no yield sign, no traffic cop. Nothing.
Here's my take. Traffic here is corpuscular. Buses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians move as objects of various sizes in a liquid would move. A bus will lumber down the street with motorcycles buzzing all around it like gnats around a cow鈥檚 head. Once a flow, a stream, has been established, then that flow gets to go. Hence, a body of motorcycles will turn left in front of oncoming cars and the cars will yield to the flow of motorcycles. In contrast, in the USA, you never have the go-ahead to turn in front of an oncoming vehicle except when you have a left-turn green arrow. But there is another 鈥渞ule.鈥� The larger the vehicle, the more likely will its effort to 鈥渆stablish a flow鈥� be respected: no motorcyclist will foolishly assert a 鈥渞ight of way鈥� in front of a bus. Au contraire, the bus will turn left in front of a battalion of oncoming motorcycles with impunity. The motorcycles will change course like a flock of birds swarming first this way then that.
For pedestrians crossing the road in front of hundreds of motorcycles: just walk at a steady pace. The motorbike drivers will see your trajectory and either choose to go in front of you or behind you according to their line of travel and not even slightly inhibit your progress across the street. This only works with motorbikes. If there鈥檚 a car or bus in the traffic, do not do this!
Drivers are endlessly forgiving. A car making a U-turn on a busy street that鈥檚 too narrow to complete the turn will block traffic, back up, then go forward again in a three-point turn. No cars slowed by this maneuver will honk or crowd the turning car! Of course, those ubiquitous motorbikes will zoom first in front of the backing car then swerve and zoom behind it when it goes forward again, taking every possible opportunity for forward progress, like cells floating in a streaming liquid.
Because of the gearing on my bike, my initial acceleration at a green light is faster than the motorbikes. They quickly overtake me because my top speed can鈥檛 match theirs. I ride to the far right. The motor bikes just to my left, and the cars in the lane even further left. I like riding on one-way streets because the cars are usually a full lane or two away from me. The two dangers I see constantly are a) the possibility that a stopped car will open its driver鈥檚 door in my path and b) that in an intersection, my 360o vision will fail to see a vehicle making a sweeping left turn at a huge intersection where, say, a four-lane street crosses another four-lane street.
Suffice it to say, I love my 8-speed city bike and I鈥檓 not afraid to ride in traffic. Since I got my bike I鈥檝e lost at least a kilogram of weight, too, a bonus. I know this because I also bought a bathroom scale. It has a switch on the bottom that says kg/lbs. I鈥檝e gone full metric. 30 degrees Celsius is about 88 degrees Fahrenheit. 31 degrees is bloody hot. It feels cooler bike riding in the heat compared to walking, but I sweat profusely when I stop. As a result, today will be a three-shower day, once before getting dressed this morning, once after coming home from the ride, and once more before going to bed this evening.
Today for the first time, I rode my bike to the University of Social Sciences and Humanities where I started taking Vietnamese language class. There are at least a thousand motorbikes parked on the campus. I rode in not really knowing the protocol, following the motorized torrent. At the entrance booth I got a plastic card the size of a credit card and was waved forward. I cycled until I saw a few bikes parked and a sign in Vietnamese which read, according to Google translate鈥檚 camera function, 鈥淭his area is for electric scooters and bicycle parking only.鈥� I chained my bike there and noticed at least one bike that wasn鈥檛 even locked. After class I went back to the same booth in the l峄慽 ra (exit) lane. I handed the card back and was charged 2,000 Vietnam Dong, or approximately $0.08. The motorcycle parking fee is twice that!
I love Vietnam!
