My travel guide didn’t say anything about crossing the street in Saigon Ho Chi Minh. I took a short trip to Saigon and the surrounding area including the Mekong delta. Traffic in Saigon is a little, um, what’s the word loose. You have a combination of hundreds of motor bikes, scooters and cars with sparse traffic lights, crosswalks. Oh and there’s a few other missing things like line dividers and the ever important adherence to traffic laws. So after my taxi driver managed to avoid 3 near accidents on the way to the hotel, I decided to go for a stroll.

When crossing a street without any lights or markers and many vietnamese barreling down upon you, your first instinct is probably to make a mad dash. This is what I did the first time and I was lucky enough to avoid trading insurance carriers, somehow I think State Farm wouldn’t come through for me on this one. What I learned from studying the locals is that you have to cross in a deliberate steady pace, nice and slow. This gives everyone a chance to anticipate you better. Of course, this seems logical but as countless motorbikes skim across you, the natural first instinct to run can kick in.

Here are the highlights from my stroll in Saigon. Some great food to be found, always love pho. Ben Thanh Market is somewhat interesting, geared mostly to tourists but with some good items to be found. Many things are quoted in US dollars which generally means you’re about to get screwed. If you ask for the vietnamese dong price, you get the bonus of doing the conversion of 17,453 dong to 1 US dollar. Hope your math skills are good! Reunification Palace and City Hall also offer a couple of highlights in the city. Probably the best thing to search for is artwork. There’s some great galleries selling all kinds of prints, paintings etc. The artwork I love the most though is the communist propaganda posters. Such a great classic style to them and inspirational messages as well!

Vietnam Flickr Set