3.5 Million Scooters

There are 3.5 Million motorbikes in Saigon. Nothing can prepare you for what that looks and feels and smells like!

Forget diarrhea, typhoid, mosquitos, side-effects of Malaria pills and rabies- the most dangerous part about living in Saigon is the traffic! The streets are filled with motorbikes. They are often are often at least 12 motorbikes across a lane- each direction. You can't wait for a lull in the traffic here- it will never come. You must simply walk out in to traffic. It is the responsibility of the driver not to hit you. It is completely counterintuitive to put so much trust in to dozens of motorbikes going at a good pace, swirving and accelerating. Honestly, sometimes I have to just look at the ground in front of me and not even take notice of what is coming at me. The worst thing I could do would be to freak out and either stop in my tracks or start running across the road. Sometimes it feels as though the red sea is parting as I walk out in to a sea of motorbikes and I don't get hit.

More dangerous is the crime that comes with all of the motorbikes. It is very common for someone riding by on a motorbike to grab a pedestrian's bag. If the bag is slung over your shoulder, you would very possibly be dragged with the bag. Americans have gotten seriously hurt in this way in the past. On our first night in HCMC, one girl's bag was snatched (it had a very flimsy strap, so it just broke) and another girl's bag was almost snatched but she was able to swat the driver's hand away.

Because of this danger, I avoid carrying a bag when at all possible. If I do need to carry a bag, I carry it on the opposite side of traffic, I hold on tight, and I certainly don't wrap it around my body.