The Suicide Walk

Crossing the street in Vietnam is a feat in its own. Cars, motorbikes, and bicycles zoom past you. The rule of the thumb is the bigger vehicle is responsible. For example, if a car and a motorbike get in an accident, no matter what, it’s the car’s fault. If a bicycle and a motorbike get in an accident, it’s the motorbike’s fault, and so on. So, as a pedestrian, even if you cross the street when it’s a green light for the cars, it is never your fault. I don’t suggest it, but if you shut your eyes and walked at a constant rate, you will most likely get across the street safely.

Most all cars stop at red lights, but only some motorbikes and bicycles. Instead, they honk their horn and proceed through the intersection as if it were a green light. The intersections look like schools of fish intersecting, each fish swerves a different way and somehow they all continue on their journey without hitting one another.

On the highway, the direction on the lanes don’t mean much. Some cars drive half way in two different lanes, sometimes you’re on the left side of the road (this is a right-side-driving country), and most of the time you’re grabbing the oh-shit-bar and hoping for the best. It is like the roads that have a center lane with a green arrow or a red X depending on which direction is the busiest during rush hour. Though, here there are no signs and both directions assume the center lane is their lane.