VN 7: More Life on the Street

There are sidewalks but you can't always see them, and walking in the street in some places is perfectly acceptable.

You just have to manage not to get hit.

For a far more vivid explanation of crossing a street in Vietnam than I can ever give you, go to YouTube and search for "crossing street in Vietnam". Yes, there are many more brand new red-green-yellow streetlights in Vietnam than there used to be, and in some places the traffic does not always consider the traffic light as just kind of a loosey-goosey suggestion that can be ignored. These days sometimes cars and trucks, motorbikes and bicycles and cyclos do stop, even for pedestrians.

Really.

That said, it still helps to think of navigating the streets of Vietnam this way: as you make your way around, you have to help them not hit you.

And you also need to be aware enough to notice not just the new red light on the corner, but also the motorbike racing towards you--aiming towards you, it seems--going the wrong way up the one way street you are walking along.