My friend and I were in Vietnam on the last leg of our South East Asia travels. We’d been in SE Asia for a couple of months and were feeling a bit jaded and tired.
We were travelling the world and Vietnam was our last country before we would fly to Australia to see in the New Year. Vietnam was a country that I was so excited to visit. The country had fascinated me ever since I first learnt about the Vietnam War and I’d longed to visit to see what the country was like with my own eyes.
My first impressions though as we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City were ones of traffic, noise and chaos – it was overwhelming!
One of my major memories of our time there was learning how to cross the busy roads! Who knew that we would have to learn how to cross a road again!!
The amount of traffic was immense, with most of the vehicles being mopeds and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the chaos! It was like nothing I had ever experienced before!
Teetering on the edge of roads we watched what other people were doing.
It seemed that you just had to take the leap and step out into the road, walk with purpose at a steady pace and hope that the traffic would just weave around you!
It seemed to work! Initially we were not brave enough to do this on our own – we snuck along behind a local (or a monk who we thought might offer us added protection!) as they knew what they were doing.
After a bit of practice we managed to tackle the roads on our own, but it was still a hair raising experience!
I love this photo which captures such a calm moment in a what is a frenetic city! The girl is so elegant and poised in her coral-ish coloured Ao Dai, as she strides out into the traffic with bags full of confidence, showing how it’s done!
I haven’t returned to Vietnam since that trip, so I can only imagine what the traffic is like there these days!
Disclaimer: As usual when I use photos from our trip, I must state that my friend and I had one digital camera between us (What?!!! I hear you cry! Yes, it’s true! Read more about how our travel tech has changed here!). It is therefore now impossible to know who, out of the two of us, took the photos (the memory fades quickly!!)! I must therefore also credit my friend for this photo. Whoever took it, I love it!
Posted as part of the Friendly Friday challenge – Coral-ish Colours
mydustyflipflops.com 
Great post 😁
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That photo really is great: she is so poised and graceful! And yes, coral-ish!! Loved your story too. I have similar memories from travels somewhere… can’t remember them as vividly though!!
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Thank you! Yes, hopefully it just about falls into the coral-ish category 🙂
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It does, perfectly! 🙂
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I well remember my first visit to Hanoi (round about the same time as you I think) and how the traffic terrified me. Still, we learn, don’t we? My main worry, when I’m travelling, is that I may lose my SIM card with photographs so I am paranoid about having something (IPad or laptop to which I can download them). Can you download to a Chromebook?
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Oh wow, what was Hanoi like? I wanted to go but we didn’t really have enough time. We do learn and adapt don’t we! I’m not great with the tech when I travel, but my photos on my phone back up to the Google drive and I can then access them on my Chromebook too.
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In Asian countries, traffic is always a challenge! It’s tough to deal with traffic jams and sound pollution!!
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That’s true! I see it everywhere now, the amount of traffic seems to be increasing! I will just always remember those first encounters with that sort of traffic, it was eye opening! Thanks very much for your comments 🙂
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My absolute pleasure 😊
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Congratulation! You learned the rule of thumb to cross the streets in Vietnam 😉 The traffic will move around you like water flows around a stone. After 16 years, the streets are still the same, only the number of vehicles increases. Hope we can get a Metro soon!
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Oh is that possibly on the cards? It would make a big difference wouldn’t it. Haha, yes we learnt eventually what we needed to do to get across the road safely 🙂 It’s amazing how it works! Thanks so much for reading and commenting 🙂
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That is a gorgeous photo! Her grace is such a contrast to the traffic frenzy. I can relate to your street-crossing challenges and have experienced same in Cairo, Phnom Penh….
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Thank you! She really does stand out doesn’t she. Oh wow, yes, I can imagine Cairo must be a challenge! Phnom Penh is also similar isn’t it, I had forgotten that 🙂
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That is one artistic photo.
The noise and traffic is those densely populated cities/ countries is definitely overwhelming. I think I would go crazy. But then again, maybe you just get used to it. CongratZ on learning how to cross a street. Again.
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Haha, thanks! It definitely can be overwhelming, particularly when you first arrive. But after I while I think you would get used to it….hopefully anyway! I just remember being totally amazed by it all on that trip, I had never seen anything like it before!
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Brilliant photo that says so much about the chaos and traffic madness of the city. You need to get it blown up and framed, it’s a terrific shot.
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Thank you 🙂 It is probably one of my favourites of Vietnam!
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Nice shot of the girl crossing the street. Our first time doing this in HCM City was nerve-wracking but after coming back there a few more times it became second-nature. It’s still risky though as one Vietnamese friend was hit by a motorbike and injured during the time we were visiting.
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Oh my word, that’s awful! I hope they were ok in the end? I was certainly worried that was what would happen to us, but thankfully we were ok. It definitely takes some getting used to doesn’t it!
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He ended up okay. It seems like everyday stuff for them but was a reminder for us to be alert always.
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That’s good, I’m glad he was ok. But it is a sobering reminder how dangerous it can be!
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