by Lan Phuong
In Saigon, morning begins with a huge flow of motorbike. In a sudden, silent streets are full of motorbikes and helmets. Motorbike is a symbol. Motorbike is a disaster.
Living on motorbikes
If you live or work in Saigon, you need a motorbike as your legs. No motorbike, no move. That is the concept for every rural people who go to the city to work. They wake up with a motorbike, run around the city, stay in the office all day, and ride motorbike home among thousands of other motorbikes. There is no other choice.
Tuesday, November 15. 2011
Jam it - Moving about in my city : Motorbike or dead?
On daily news, you can easily count many traffic accidents happened with motorbike drivers. In some painful days, more than 10 people died in an accident in the middle of Saigon. The question is so hard to solve: how can people run so fast in traffic jam? – No one actually knows. No one actually cares. Everyone is in very hard pressure to earn a living. They just continue speeding up as fast as possible. They must finish their work. They must earn a living.
A 'xe ôm' (motorbike for rent driver) uses his motorbike as a bed for his night in a street.
It is said that people live and die on motorbikes. That is such a symbolic joke of this city. Motorbike becomes a syndrome, even a disease. But most of Saigon people is living on their motorbikes. They can save time, move fast, even carry goods to some rare address in small alleys. It’s cheap to move around on a motorbike. There is no other cheaper choice, when the inflation is making living prices rising fast.
Sometimes, you forget that you can walk
Some foreigners are so surprised that Saigon people always use motorbike to move around, even in just a 1-km-route.
That’s not their fault.
If you live in Singapore, you can and MUST walk through gardens, on pavements. You have to walk in your office building to shops around that place. In Japan, you can walk all day in a peaceful atmosphere, where cars are far away from touching your feet. Walking people have their own line to wander. Walking people have trees to cool them from polluted air and sunshine. If you live in Laos or Cambodia, streets are not so crowded to walk, even in a messy traffic.
No pavement, no trees, motorbike is more useful than walking...
In addition, pavements are forgotten. When traffic jam becomes more and more serious, new streets are built. And when they try to enlarge streets, pavements are destroyed for space for motorbikes and cars. Trees disappear gradually in old streets. Saigon is hot enough for any kind of sunshine. Saigon is polluted enough with millions of motorbikes. If you walk 1 km, you suppose to think that you have just walked 5kms. You must walk up and walk down the destroyed pavements. You must walk fast to prevent yourself from too hot sunny sky. Walking becomes a tiring activity with most of people here.
By losing pavements, enlarging streets, the kingdom of motorbikes is becoming more powerful than ever.
A 'xe ôm' (motorbike for rent driver) uses his motorbike as a bed for his night in a street.
It is said that people live and die on motorbikes. That is such a symbolic joke of this city. Motorbike becomes a syndrome, even a disease. But most of Saigon people is living on their motorbikes. They can save time, move fast, even carry goods to some rare address in small alleys. It’s cheap to move around on a motorbike. There is no other cheaper choice, when the inflation is making living prices rising fast.
Sometimes, you forget that you can walk
Some foreigners are so surprised that Saigon people always use motorbike to move around, even in just a 1-km-route.
That’s not their fault.
If you live in Singapore, you can and MUST walk through gardens, on pavements. You have to walk in your office building to shops around that place. In Japan, you can walk all day in a peaceful atmosphere, where cars are far away from touching your feet. Walking people have their own line to wander. Walking people have trees to cool them from polluted air and sunshine. If you live in Laos or Cambodia, streets are not so crowded to walk, even in a messy traffic.
No pavement, no trees, motorbike is more useful than walking...
In addition, pavements are forgotten. When traffic jam becomes more and more serious, new streets are built. And when they try to enlarge streets, pavements are destroyed for space for motorbikes and cars. Trees disappear gradually in old streets. Saigon is hot enough for any kind of sunshine. Saigon is polluted enough with millions of motorbikes. If you walk 1 km, you suppose to think that you have just walked 5kms. You must walk up and walk down the destroyed pavements. You must walk fast to prevent yourself from too hot sunny sky. Walking becomes a tiring activity with most of people here.
By losing pavements, enlarging streets, the kingdom of motorbikes is becoming more powerful than ever.
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