Ho Chi Minh city

Have spent my first day in HCM. The first thing that strikes you is the oppressive heat, and then it's the seemingly infinite number of motorbikes. They are everywhere. People carry passengers (including infants and up to 3 guests), talk on their phones and even eat noodles while on their bikes. Crossing the road for the first time is freaky- you basically just have to go all zen and walk out confidently but slowly. Somehow, all the oncoming traffic makes imperceptible changes of direction and you make it across. Within 2 hours you get quite blaise about the whole thing, and think nothing of stepping out in front of 500 odd motorbikes, a couple of dozen cars and a bus.

If the Inuit have 12 words for 'snow', then the Vietnamese have 2 dozen uses for their horns. It means everything ranging from 'here I come' to 'get out of my way', 'would you like a lift' and 'just needed some attention'. The use of the horn makes all of normal road rules redundant. Bikes fly into the opposite lane and oncoming traffic, and all intersections are a free for all. Somehow it all seems to work. The great thing is that with no road rules, no one gets angry. You can't get mad at someone if they haven't violated any code.