Halong Bay
Cruise Trips
Other Junks
Sights
Culture shock in Vietnam - the traffic
One of the regular posters in this branch raised a
question "What was your culture shock when you first
came to Vietnam?", 80% of the answers were "The
traffic".
Back to 20 years ago when Vietnam started opening to the
world, a bicycle was an important asset in any
Vietnamese family. In early 1990s, the second hand
Japanese motorbikes were imported into Vietnam at cheap
price, then both expensive and cheap motorbikes from
different countries appeared. Most of people gave up
riding bicycles and changed to use motorbikes, even for
travelling a short distance. The road was not expanded
while the number of people and vehicles increased
rapidly. Air pollution, traffic congestion and fatal
accidents became some major issues, not only in the
large cities of Vietnam, I think, also in some countries
of SEA during the development process.
From 15 December 2007, it was compulsory to wear a
helmet when riding a motorbike in Vietnam. Awareness of
traffic safety plays an important role, however many
people ignore traffic rules, when there is no police.
Sometimes they don't care red-blue lights, or turn
left-right any time they want. You may be surprised at
the noise and why Vietnamese use horn so often, but if
they don't, it's very easy to hit the people in front of
them. Horn also is important to warn, as someone may
suddenly come from the alleys at a fast speed
An advice for you if you want to cross streets in Hanoi
and in HCMC is you should walk slowly (don't run) and
watch both sides. In most cases, the locals will know
how to avoid you.
The highways in Vietnam actually are just "expanded and
improved" road based on the old road, and some new
routes were open, not really a high speed road for only
car/bus/truck as there are other simple vehicles as
well. The Highway No. 1 runs from China border to Nam
Can in Ca Mau, and other highways connect major cities
and remote provinces in Vietnam. Police are always there
on some highways to measure speed of car/bus/truck. The
fine is heavy and driving license may be withdrawn if
there are some holes punched on the license, that is why
car/bus/truck must travel at slow speed on the highways,
and it takes quite much time to move from A to B.
I work in the construction industry and have
participated in the tender for some large scaled
projects in Vietnam. I also read the Master Plan for
Development of Transport System in Vietnam up to 2010 -
2020 published by a Japanese organization. A lot of
plans for the future transport system, for example,
monorail, subway, pedestrian tunnels under railway, ring
roads etc. All of them sound wonderful, but in fact,
seeking for financial sources, signing of loan
agreements then performance (site clearance, tender,
progress schedule etc.) would take much time for a
project to be feasible. For such a large scaled project
like the 12-km subway in HCMC, an estimated budget has
reached approx. US$ 2 billion. To save the costs, a
combination of both on-ground and underground system has
been considered. Last December, in Hanoi, the first item
of the 12.7km railway project (Nhon - Ga Hanoi) which
includes 9.8km on-ground and 2.9km underground railway,
commenced and will be complete in October 2010,
coinciding with the time when Hanoi people will
celebrate the Thang Long - Hanoi 1,000 year
establishment anniversary.
An American tourist asked me "If you had a wish for
Hanoi, what would you want?". I answered "I wish there
were not so many motorbikes and everyone would cycle
same like 10-20 years ago." But until a future day when
vehicles would be banned in the Old Quarter and everyone
could walk freely, and when the subway system would be
open, we still need to cross Hanoi streets watching
motorbikes, buses, cyclos coming from every direction,
and try to be an excellent driver and remember to wear a
helmet (I do).
Hanoi Bus
Here is the link to website of Hanoi Bus: Hanoi Bus
Over the last few years, the bus system in Hanoi became
a very comfortable means of transport for both locals
and tourists. I recalled a TTer get together in Hanoi in
April 2006, a Singaporean guy told me, he took Bus #7
from Noi Bai airport to Cau Giay and changed into Bus #9
from Cau Giay to Hoan Kiem lake (just a short walk to
the Old Quarter). You also can take a public bus to Army
Museum, Bat Trang ceramics village, Van Phuc silk
village and Museum of Ethnology etc.
Other tips
Useful sites
1. Red Dragon
Junk, Cruise Halong Bay: 5 cabin boat on
Halong Bay
All cruises on
Halong Bay Online,
Halong bay
travel guide, Hanoi Halong Bay Tours, Maps to Halong,
2. Prince
Cruise Halong Bay Vietnam: 4 cabin cruise on Halong
Bay
3. Jayavarman
Cruise on Mekong River Vietnam Cambodia: luxury
cruise on the Mekong River
4. Hanoi Airlines:
book flight tickets to Hanoi
5. Halong Bay
Cruise: list all cruise boats on Halong Bay & Bai Tu
Long Bay
6. Hotel
Vietnam, Vietnam Hotels: book hotels and resorts in
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
7. Laos Travel
Guide: book tours in Laos with the New Road Tour
8. Cambodia
Travel: useful guides, hotels, flights, tours in
Cambodia
9. Phu Quoc
Travel Guide: useful information on Phu Quoc Island
Vietnam
10. Travel Sapa
Vietnam: tours, hotels, maps to Sapa Vietnam
11. Mekong
Delta Tours: cruise, hotels, tours in Mekong, Saigon
Other new travel sites
1. Vietnam Travel
Company: First Choice Tours in Vietnam
2. Hue Travel Guide:
guide, maps, tours in Hue Vietnam
3. Sapa Travel Tips:
Sapa guides, tourist information
4. Mekong River
Tours, Mekong Amalotus Cruise, Amalotus Cruise,
Amalotus Boat Mekong River
5. Amalotus.com,
Amalotuscruise.com, Amalotus Indochina Sails Mekong
River
6. Mekong
River Boats: Mekong Tours, Mekong River Tours
7. Hoi An Travel
Guide: Tours, maps to Hoi An
