A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
For those of you who read this page religiously (hi Mom and Dad!), you may recall that on my first day here I complained about the mega-kazillions of motorbikes and mentioned that it took me more than 15 minutes to cross a single street in the middle of the day.

After almost 3 weeks here, I have reached a whole new level of auto/motorbike indifference, or perhaps it could be described as Pedestrian Fatalism. Yesterday I crossed that selfsame street with barely a pause, calmly maintaining the same walking speed across approximately 16 "lanes" of motorbike traffic. I am One with the Road.

This metamorphasis did not come easily. In my early days in Saigon, I would start and stop, apologize and wave to drivers, run the last few steps to avoid collisions, and wait endlessly on street corners for green lights, if the lights were working at all. I would even wait until the way was clear in both directions! Really, looking back, it's a miracle I ever made it out of my hotel.

But now I have developed a Zen approach to street-crossing. I am serene. I believe I will cross safely, and although I never assume anyone will stop for me, I become an integral part of the complex living mechanics of Saigon intersections and drivers invariably go around me without a problem. They don't pause, I don't pause, we are all happy and reach our destinations in safety.

It's not that I deliberately step out into the raging river of motorbikes. I stand calmly on the corner and wait for my moment. Not necessarily the moment in which there are no vehicles in sight -- that moment never arrives. I wait for the moment when I can firmly believe that at my normal walking speed, I will be able to maintain a straight line across the road with the minimum number of motorbikes required to swerve around me. I set a determined course, and rarely deviate in speed and direction.

At least, that's the situation now. I'll let you know how my tactics change when I either cause a major accident or get sent to the local hospital with several broken limbs and blood gushing from my head.

© 2002 Katy Warren


posted by Katy at 3:01 AM