Vietnam: Safety Third

by Trevor

One of the best aspects of traveling for me has been seeing people in far away places going about their everyday lives. After having impressions of places based basically on news headlines or cursory summations of history it is humanizing to watch grandparents light up when they see grandchildren, shop keepers setting up in the morning, or catching a couple’s quarrel in the market. Turns out everyone everywhere has their day to get through. 

One of the distinctives that makes seeing other cultures so interesting is the different approach to everyday tasks. Coming from the tidy, organized, risk averse west some of the sights have been amazing and shocking. 

In just three minutes at one intersection in Hanoi I saw someone talking on the phone while driving a moped one-handed, texting while operating a moped one-handed, colossal and awkward loads on a moped (like a guy holding a ladder with one hand and driving with the other), and a family of four on a moped (and days later, a family of five). Just a regular afternoon for all the locals and nearly a circus performance for me. One bummer is the scourge of texting and driving is as bad in Vietnam as anywhere.

Another interesting aspect of societal arrangement is the delivery of public utilities. Function is certainly valued over form. Looking at poles like these I can’t imagine there are actually rules, but it’s getting the job done. This level of electrical formality is carried on inside buildings. It is common to see wiring run outside walls without conduit and plugs cut off electrical equipment and hardwired with just electrical tape to secure the connection. Not how I would do it, but also getting the job done. 

In the evening people place their garbage, usually in a tidy pile, at the edge of the street for pickup. There are no fancy bins with the municipality’s logo on the side but the garbagemen don’t seem to have any trouble figuring it out. 

I think one of the things that makes Vietnam feel more risk-prone is the overlap between what I’m used to seeing as strictly separate areas. Like many places the sidewalks are packed with parked motorbikes so we had to walk in the street. We regularly had to walk through a restaurant’s kitchen to get to the bathroom and so much work seemed to take place in public spaces — people cooking and serving on the sidewalks, butchering and selling on open air tables, fabricators welding on the sidewalk.

Seeing a city of millions run so differently makes me wonder if my perception of some risks is hypersensitive. That being said, I wouldn’t stand on the second story railing to tie up a new string of lights!