Approaching Saigon

The first notion of Saigon appeared about 50 kms away, when we approached Binh Hoa. Traffic seemed to increase with every meter and reached a state of chaos when we were passing this city. Vietnamese traffic has to be seen to believe it... the wild conglomeration of buses, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, rikschas and hand-drawn carriages seems to be something beyond reality. One wonders about the number of traffic deads - officially around 12000 per year, but probably more - and it appears to be low when you take a look at it, it must be higher, you can't stop thinking...

Driving through Binh Hoa was more stop than go, and would continue so until Saigon... I had to admit that I hadn't seen much of Vietnamese traffic so far... unimportant cities of 50000 or 300000 people. Coming closer to Saigon, the highway was jam-packed. Everyone - buses, cars, motorcycles, trucks - tried to sneak into holes in the continuous row of vehicles, honking the others out of their way. We crept towards an intersection, where the traffic had come to a complete stillstand, because half a dozen trucks which wanted to turn off into several directions, were so entirely jammed that it seemed impossible to clear the intersection...

Some kilometers after Binh Hoa it started to rain, and within minutes the rain turned into a longlasting downpour. The advantage was that most motorcycles went off the road, seeking shelter... After a while we reached the outskirts of Saigon. The rain had flooded streets and entire quarters, up to 15 cms high... fortunately it ceased suddenly. The old chaos returned to the streets...