I was once told the French actually have an expression for much of what you just described: traversez la rue de mode vietnamienne — meaning roughly to to cross the street vietnamese style.

Personally, after a dozen years in SàiGòn, i still avoid crossing streets on foot. And, when i have to, i follow the rules i was taught as a kid in Canada: look both ways and point to where you’re going. It drives the locals nuts, but it works the same way as the way they’ll suddenly thrust out an arm to turn left or right and just turn without looking behind them: it doesn’t signal intent; it puts up an obstacle to passing.

And on a motorbike in Việt Nam, the only real rules of the road are the laws of physics. Touch anything and you’ll like have damage to you or your bike, if both aren’t written off completely.

Nonetheless, if you think walking in SighGone’s a bit of a kick, you really should try driving here. One long lost friend put a nice metaphor to it: it’s like swimming in a school of motorized fish. I’ll admit i’m totally addicted to it, despite three big dances with Death and scars to prove it.

But with thrills come spills. And i was a bit surprised i didn’t notice any mention of the fact that “death by traffic” is actually the number one cause of death in all Vietnam, not just SàiGòn.

From the first hit from http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=traffic+deaths+vietnam ::

Head injury in Vietnam
According to Dao, in the last seven years moving traffic in Vietnam has accounted for 30000 deaths and 94000 injuries.

Note: that’s from a 1997 article at http://www.helmets.org/vietnam.htm, but 2000 and 2004 updates are referred to on the same page.

Thanks & Cheers!