How do I cross the street? Or, it's Kiara vs. the mosquitoes!

HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City, or as we've read in guidebooks, still Saigon) has, like many other large cities, A LOT of traffic. I admit, unlike Colleen, I'm not a fan of large, crowded, and often dirty and loud cities. Even after living in New York City (arguably one of the greatest of such cities in the world today, or so many of its residents would assert) for 6 years I never developed a love (nay a tolerance) for the grit & grime and noise. Traveling, however, often moves one (for sure me!) to be open-minded. And, so I'm kind of liking Sairgon. I really like that many of the people we've encountered are really, smilely, and generally mellow. Pretty unlikely for such a hectic place. But, let me get back to the title of this post. Yes, there are malaria carrying mosquitoes in Vietnam (according to health maps) BUT not in this city. Well, at least there aren't supposed to be mosquitoes here. Funny thing is that I've now gotten bitten twice. First, while we were indoors in an air-conditioned room getting a pedicure (for $6, those of you who know the cost of a NYC pedicure will be impressed with this price!). Second, in the coffee shop where I'm now typing this post. So, I guess mosquitoes will find me wherever I am, even if I'm ensconced in AC behind glass. Oh well. But mosquitoes are really not the danger of HCMC. Our "shoestring" guidebook warns us about pickpockets and over-charging for transportation. But really, in the end, it's crossing the street that gets you. Sure, the heat is a challenge (definitely for me) and sometimes too is finding a way to communicate that I don't eat meat, but just now Colleen started laughing out loud to herself because she remembered when I failed to cross the street with her yesterday.y Thusly I was left to find my own way across and ended up running wildly through motorbikes, bicyclists, buses and taxes. You may be wondering then: Are there cross-walks? (yes) Are the traffic signals? (sometimes) Are there roundabouts and medians? (sure) Do vehicles yield to pedestrians? (sort of)...so the thing is that folks here tend to walk slowly, yet deliberately, across INTO traffic of all sorts and they somehow magically (almost majestically) get to where they need to go. Our technique? Look, hope, and dart dart dart across to the other side. IF we can (and I often pray that we get to do this) we find a local who is crossing where we want to go and like a good second place horse, we draft them to the finish. Yep, crossing the street is quite a task indeed. But well worth it to see new things, eat amazing frozen yogurt, smell the food stalls in the market, or just know that at the end of the day you've made it to Vietnam.