I walk through a pedestrian crossing on a green light but the light itself seems to be just an artificial indicator of an obsolete state. The motorbikes keep on coming and going from all directions assisted by just a handful of cars. I hear beeps. I see huge traffic. I feel insecure and smell gasoline surrounding me. As I later learn, this flow does not stop. Ever.
I look each of the coming drivers in the eyes and try to foretell my future as I continue walking. I'm halfway through and the heat of the moment combined with the temperature outside make me sweat. I'm not scared. I somewhat enjoy this peculiar experience which, for the locals, is just a daily grind. The masses move a bit slower but do not stop. I start observing deeper. One driver plays a game on his cell phone while getting through the endless sea of vehicles. I see children, infants and animals as passengers. I notice all sorts of packages tucked in all possible places. I see virtually everything that could be transported in all sizes, colours and configurations. Yet, my fascination meets with the indifferent faces of those motorised passersby as I finish crossing the street and continue on a very narrow sidewalk that's.. packed with motorcycles.
"This is not Bangkok. This is level up." - I make a mental note. Seven and a half million motorbikes. Ten million locals. Welcome to Ho Chi Minh city.
Read the full story below.
This whole turmoil made me think. I decided to embark on a journey to get to know how it all ended up being like it is. You have to know that space in Vietnam and, in particular, the former capital of the country is scarce. Streets are often narrow, traffic jams are ubiquitous. Every larger street crossing will teach you that pronto. When you rent an apartment somewhere aside from the most touristy places you'll see that no car will manage to get through the labyrinth of tall and squeezed buildings. Another side of things is that it's hard for Vietnamese people to own a car due to the high contrast in earnings and car prices. Thus, the easiest way to pass through those problems is to buy a scooter or a motorbike and ride the streets.
The mentioned means of transportation did not become popular until the 1990s when they replaced the omnipresent bicycle which was popular for decades. This was not a light change. Air and noise pollution raised to historical heights changing forever the life of locals. Today, most of the drivers wear masks typical for Chinese or Japanese citizens to protect themselves from the adverse effect of advancement. Commuting to work or just moving from one place to the other every day poses the risk of inhaling immense amounts flue gases.
Vietnam is populated by around 95 million people who own 45 million motorcycles or scooters. That's around one vehicle for every two people. Allegedly, the first brand present in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh) was Honda. The company has built its factory in Vietnam in the late '90s and flooded the market with its products. That's why locals are used to calling their vehicles Hondas instead of bikes or scooters. Nowadays, the market is controlled in 90% by Honda and Yamaha leaving 10% for other brands (including Italian Piaggio).
In many countries, Uber has a strong presence. Vietnam is not excluded here. One difference is that there is an option to hair Uber Moto. By paying around 10 000 - 40 000 VND (0.36 EUR - 1.5 EUR) you can take a ride from one district to another. This is so cheap that locals use this service for going shopping and everyday transport. For a non-local, it's an interesting experience as scooters tend to squeeze in every free inch and beat about through the cars and busses.
Quite recently, Uber has sold its stock and it's fixed assets to Grab - a local competition to which it lost a price battle. Why would you care? Never has Uber done such a thing in its history and does not plan to make any exceptions. Grab itself is present in six Asian countries with its HQ in Singapore. In return, Uber has received around 27% of Grab's stock and a place on the management board. Uber's competitor is very similar in terms of offered services but I found the quality of them was not on par with its American counterpart. Today, there is no other choice so it does not matter.
The process is similar to ordering a taxi via an app. You order a Grab and wait a couple of minutes praying for the driver not to cancel on you (which is notorious for Grab). When he arrives you take the passenger helmet from him (he or she does not speak English), jump on the bike and off you go. Simple as that. He will find every free inch of space, sometimes ride on the pavement and.. rarely drive against the current. You will hear beeps every few seconds which is only to warn other drivers to "pay attention". It's often on intersections where people want to, somehow, cross through the continuous influx of motorbikes coming from the other direction.
It's very tempting to record what you experience but there is a high possibility that somebody will tear out your phone or camera and just drive. Same happens while walking with your phone on the street. You have been warned.
Motorcycles are used as means of transportation for people, goods and animals. They also act as chairs to sit on and read a newspaper sipping a cà phê đá. Hondas help people earn cash by driving others or, combined with a mobile stall, for selling foodstuffs on the street. The variations seem endless. Most of the expats, when they arrive at Ho Chi Minh, they buy a bike within the first few weeks of living here or constantly use Grab for their own convenience. Motorbikes are also accepted even in the overcrowded places like markets. They slowly cut through the crowd as it was just another busy street and don't make much of an impression.
When walking down the streets of Saigon I noticed that pedestrians seem to be a second category inhabitant. Motors are parked everywhere, pavements are narrow and, often, you have to step on the busy street to bypass them. Nobody walks the pavements with their greengrocer's shopping or a newly bought mattress. You come and leave by bike. Always.
My investigation continued. As you may surmise, those large number of vehicles aren't bulletproof nor are they free of flaws. As everything, they do break down every now and then. Especially, taking into consideration that there was a larger inflow of fake Hondas named Hundas (some other wording variations exist) with rather poor built quality but with a much lower price tag in the last few years. This tends to create problems when you don't want them. And if there is a strong demand for something, supply arises to answer.
There is a vast number of small mechanic repair shops tucked in alleys, local communities and, sometimes, even pavements. Mechanics work whole day fixing bikes (some do it round the clock). There are also some "supporting professions" that compliment this trend. Like the guy on the corner of Phan Đăng Lưu and Nguyễn Kiệm. I've seen him every day making helmets on the pavement (literally) and selling them when the lights turned red on the above-mentioned intersection. He was there hidden under an umbrella with his hand-made, custom-designed goods with clients coming and going from time to time.
I was wondering if people had their own favourite repair shop. A trusted handyman that does the job well. I guess, they probably use the first one that they encounter if the problem can be fixed at hand. This is just a lucky guess but those numbers of shops speak volumes. They are everywhere. I've seen one based in a local community in Phường 3 district where a man was repairing bikes. He had a small workshop next to a tiny square surrounded by buildings. Every house had at least one motorbike. They were going to and forth in the narrow streets starting in the morning up till late evening. Each day he had 2-4 bikes on the stand that he was servicing - sometimes from the ground up (including tough engine repairs).
Those communities make me want to sing. Observing how people that are from the same part of a district sit down, relax, eat together, talk or just sit and do nothing is something unique. I come from a European country (Poland to be exact) where people tend to spend time with their friends or relatives rather than people from their neighbourhood. There aren't many strong local communities, that I know of, that would support each other and welcome newcomers with open arms. This is contrary to what I've seen in Hi Chi Minh and those relations that people have here and the life they lead resembles what I've seen in Bejing's hutongs a few years ago.
Imagine entering a narrow street in between a store with lingerie for women and a natural medicine shop. You walk 50 meters and you see a small window with two seats where filter coffee is served. Two meters forward you enter a tiny square. To your right, there is a local greengrocer's where the owner also cooks food on the street as a side business. Vis-à-vis is another small shop. Somewhere else, in between streets, there is someone selling pans from their living room which is accessible right from the street. You walk and walk and can get lost in those street corridors where each corner can surprise you with a motorbike or scooter.
I rest my case for the time being regarding my small investigation. I leave without all the answers but I feel I'll come and visit yet again. I encounter pure magic in the mentioned communities and it's hard for me to describe the exact experience. On second thought, I like those moments where I cannot capture, either in words or in a photograph, the essence of a place. It gives me a feeling of gratefulness that this very moment is special just for me in a kind of a transcendental way. I find these fleeting moments in every place I visit and, since about one year or so, I cherish their lack of the ability to be recorded.
© 2026 Marcin Konkel
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