Dark days

 

    The weather has taken a turn for the worse.  It was bad in the north of Vietnam, then in one of the central towns we were in (Hoi An) it got nice for two days, now it is back to thunderstorms.  It has been kind of a bummer since we are at one of the worlds greatest stretches of sand – Nha Trang.  We had big plans to do some diving, snorkeling, kite surfing, standard surfing, spear fishing and other tropical ocean things but I must say that plans have changed. 

    Since the ten day forecast says that thunderstorms are expected for the next 7-10 days in Vietnam me and Chelsea decided to forego some of the beaches we were going to hit here and push on to Saigon, then move in to Cambodia.  I think that we could have more fun away from the beach, rather than be here and be taunted by what ‘we could have’ if the weather was only better. 

    On another note:  Since we have been in Vietnam the traffic has been much more crazy than other places in Asia.  This country has the biggest number of motorbikes per capita than anywhere else in the world.  The traffic is not necessarily as fast as it was in Thailand, but there basically is no regulation as to where you can drive.  Because of this, in Hanoi we saw a guy on a motorbike get hit by a taxi driver.  They were going around a round-a-bout when the bike zipped into the blind spot of the taxi and they collided.  Nobody was hurt, although a big fight followed – the taxi was fine, but the bike was destroyed.

    When we were traveling from Hoi An to Nha Trang, the sleeper bus we were riding collided head on into a motorbike with two people on it, killing them.  It was so dark, nobody could tell what happened.  The impact on the bus seemed very small, just a jolt.  Most people on the bus were just snoozing or chatting, or reading their books.  Me and Chelsea watched the whole thing unfold, and we knew that it was not good from the beginning.  People were destroyed, collapsed on the ground crying.  Fights were breaking out between people, the mob was trying to get the staff of the sleeper bus.  Pretty soon there were probably a hundred people out there surrounding the bus.  The police showed up faster than I would have expected, and with them came two ambulances with body bags.  They loaded a body into each ambulance, then put family members and people who had lost it in with the bodies, then they turned on the child locks to hold them.  It was really rough to watch.    Eventually two hours after we pulled over someone came on board the bus and let the front six people know what had happened, then they drove us a short distance where we transferred to a new bus, the front corner of the original bus was destroyed and the lights did not work.

    After witnessing that, I have to say I have been in a very fatalistic mindset the last two days.  In an instant so many lives changed.  It was hard to have a good time knowing what those families are dealing with.

      Busses drive like they are part of the Indy 500, and motorbikes ruthlessly cut people off, drive on the wrong side of the road, and ride incredibly fast.  Because there are no driving regulations (at least enforced) there is no body to blame for what happened.  (At least in a ‘right of way’ type of blame – the friends and families of those killed had no problem blaming the bus crew.)  I checked the newspapers and the internet these last few days and there was nothing written about the accident.  Things like this must happen all of the time out here. 

    This experience has led me to think that the driving and traffic control is one of the top problems with SE Asia.  If busses were not passing little motorbikes at lightning speed in the middle of the night just to maintain their raging pace who knows how many people’s lives would be saved each year.  Obviously something like this would be a huge overhaul in government and law enforcement, not to mention a cultural change for all of the people here.  I have not seen a single car pulled over by the police in three months here, and I have seen the drunkest people get on their motorcycles and drive off down the street while holding their horn down yelling at people to watch out.  I believe that it would be a very worthwhile endeavor to try to model rules of the road here after those at home.

    The crazy traffic here has stopped being amusing to me, or interesting, or different.  Now I just see how it is totally insane.  I am thankful for the yellow line in American roads, and the no passing signs, and some of the law enforcement to keep people in check – our accident would not have happened in the USA or Canada.   

Mack