Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, Vietnam
What remains, Saigon?
A short story of getting forwarded in Ho Chi Minh City
Each city leaves a memory, an impression and a picture. I had to wait a long time for the impression of Ho Chi Minh City. After leaving Hanoi the charm of the past, the smell of post-communism and simple symbolism, I am anxious to Saigon. Is it the architecture, are there people or certain places?
It took a long time. Again and again something flashes, the post office for example, but immediately the illusion of the wonderful French architecture with the hectic flood and restlessness of the visitors is swept away. And that is the picture, which remains. It is the hustle and bustle, the restlessness.
Be it the step of the walkers, who pursue their sport on green islands in the city. Or in the incessantly flashing neon signs, which were called “Massage” and “Spa”, elsewhere on “Shoes” or “Clothes”. Or in the pulsing beat of the city, driven by a myriad of engines. The flood of sheet metal, helmets and lights, in which, as a pedestrian, you have to deal with the rules. It is the flowing bustle of this city, but none of the unpleasant kind.
The rules
If the traffic rules from Germany were applied in Vietnam, the traffic would immediately come to a standstill. There is no aggression, there is a subtle coexistence. Since the wish of every on-the-road is the same, to get from A to B as quickly, safely and comfortably as possible, the idea of a joint solution is achieved. There is an imaginary social bond, an unreal mindfulness towards others, and an interaction left and right that would not happen in Germany.
The right of the strongest is also valid in Vietnam. Truck in front of bus in front of car before moped in front of bicycle before pedestrian. Everyone adheres to the rule and respects the neighbor in his means of transport and interacts with him. This goes even with mouth protection very well.
As a pedestrian you have only one chance, because you are at the bottom of the traffic chain. In and through, at the same pace, in the same rhythm and with the necessary courage. In the end you discover the fun and see the sport in this traffic.
But Saigon has even more impressions and stories to offer than the coexistence of the traffic hectic, you find them in the pictures?
