Saigon Traffic Jam from Hell

Two weeks ago from today, I was heading to Indochina Capital‘s office at the Saigon Financial Centre in District 1.  My normal route from the Phu Nhuan District to Indochina Capital was from Huynh Van Banh to Phan Dinh Phuong (becoming Hai Ba Trung) and then a left turn unto Trang Quang Khai street.  Well, that was a bad mistake on my part.

I happened to leave my house right before a rainstorm at the beginning of rush hour.  For those who have lived in Saigon long enough, who are the people who tend to direct traffic during rush hour?  Yep, the traffic police.  When it rains, who tends to disappear from the posts for the coffeeshops?  Yes, you guessed it again, the traffic police.

I came to about 100 meters from the intersection of Hai Ba Trung and Trang Quang Khai at about 4:45 PM.  I would be stuck in the same exact spot for 45 minutes.  Due to the absence of the traffic police, motorbikes and cars on all four intersections lined up side by side with each other against the oncoming traffic.  The traffic was moving no where.

At about 5 PM, the dry traffic police finally came.  They had to be nearby since their uniforms were dry and they did not wear rain coats.  The had to push the traffic back in their proper lanes.  It took 30 minutes before I finally started up my motorbike.

I could not turn left at Trang Quang Khai street so I headed to Dien Bien Phu instead.  I got to Indochina Capital at around 6:00 PM.

The traffic police were responsible for this traffic jam.  If they had been at their posts, the people would have abided by their rules, especially during rush hour.  They paid the price, though.  They ended up being soaked since their motorcycles were further down the road.

Finally, I got about 30 seconds of the traffic jam on video.  I could not record any more since it was raining.