As I mentioned in part 1 of this setup, I have lived in Vietnam long enough now that I feel as though I have a good enough grasp on certain aspects of society to have an overall opinion about which is "better" in certain regards. I am not saying anything negative about the overall culture of either place, I am merely pointing out what it is like as an expat, seeing through expat eyes. I have lived more of my adult life in Asia than I have in the country that is on my passport, so I think I have a unique perspective on this.
Last time I focused on traffic and traffic flow and I declared Vietnam the victor in that one although I have to admit there are pros and cons of either country. Today we are going to focus on something that doesn't actually involve you driving at all, in this situation you are a pedestrian which for me and most of the people I hang with, is something we frequently are.
Being a pedestrian on the roads in Vietnam and Thailand
Because I don't really need to actually be anywhere since I work remotely, getting to a certain place at a certain time only happens to me when I am going to our weekly bowling outings, or if I need to get to the airport for some reason. Therefore, I do not even own a vehicle outside of a bicycle and I use that for the most part, for exercise. Therefore, I frequently can be seen walking from place to place.
The other day after getting a taxi to a bank for a meetup with my agent for various reasons, I decided that I would walk all the way back to my house instead of spending a few dollars on a motorbike taxi. I didn't have any real reason to rush back, and exercise is always good, right? I knew it was around a 5km walk and the weather wasn't terribly hot so I figured I would give it a go.
Don't try to make a great deal of sense out of this map because I can't. Just know that I started on the left side of it and ended on the right side of it. My starting point is one of the heavily traveled "tourist" areas and the place where I ended is very touristy as well. I passed through many areas that for the most part, will be filled with tourists every day of the week. I was keeping count as I walked about how many times I would be approached and asked to buy something by the people who prey on tourists with whatever it is that they are offering. During this more than 5km trek, I was approached a mere 3 times in total. This was in the middle of the day and is "prime time" for harassing tourists that are walking. This is a remarkably low number.
I call it the "hassle factor" and to only be approached 3 times is just amazing and very refreshing.
In Thailand if you could make it 100 meters in a tourist area without being approached by 3 people pushing you to buy something I would be very surprised. Since I lived in Thailand for over a decade and really dedicated myself to becoming immersed in the culture and language, I am damn near fluent in Thai. This changed absolutely nothing about how often I was harassed other than the language that they used to approach me with. In places like Bangkok, many of the touts aren't even Thai so when I would speak to them in Thai they have no idea what I am saying. I can't imagine how they get away with this.
Therefore, from a "hassle factor" point of view, Vietnam wins without question.
Now keep in mind that more populated places like Saigon and Hanoi you will be approached a lot more frequently that laid-back DaNang, but still nowhere near as often as it happens in Thailand. I'm not trying to scare anyone away from visiting Thailand because it is a wonderful place but you honestly can't go anywhere and do anything in a place that doesn't have security guards without being constantly pestered to buy things. It's extremely annoying and ruins a lot of the ambiance. God help you if you ever find yourself on a massage street by accident in Thailand.
Accommodating pedestrian traffic
Moving on to how easy it is to actually be a pedestrian safely and the tables turn. Both countries are guilty of one thing that I kind of wish that they would do away with and that is the adaptation of western notions of street markings.
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In my home country, crosswalks or zebra-crossings are rather hallowed ground. If a pedestrian walks into a crosswalk, they have the right of way. If a motorist ever were to hit someone in a crosswalk they would be in severe trouble. In both Thailand and Vietnam these stripes on the pavement mean absolutely nothing to motorists or to the police that are rarely watching them. Despite the fact that nobody in either country actually knows or cares what a crosswalk marking actually means, these things are EVERYWHERE. The locals know that they mean nothing but foreigners often walk into these areas thinking that they are protected in them just like they would be back in their home country.
In both Vietnam and Thailand, if you get hit by a car in a crosswalk, you are just some idiot who got hit by a car in a crosswalk. You are not going to become a millionaire by suing the city and the driver. Do yourself a favor if you ever visit either country and pay ZERO attention to crosswalks and keep your head on a swivel whenever you are crossing the road.
Both countries draw with a terrible rating as far as this is concerned. It is a waste of money on whatever the paint cost.
Now as far as accommodating pedestrians are concerned the winner in this category is very clear. Vietnam very rarely accommodates pedestrians to the point where there are many websites, such as this one that give a tutorial on how to cross the street without getting hit. There is a very real science to it and it can prove daunting to anyone that hasn't lived here for a while. To this day and after 4 years of experience I find that one method is pretty effective: Find a Vietnamese person and use them as a traffic shield.
In Thailand they have gone to great lengths to keep traffic flowing as well as protect pedestrians by having massive walking overpasses at major streets
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yeah, you are going to have to walk up some stairs in order to cross the road but trust me, this is highly preferable than attempting to cross 6-10 lanes of traffic. In most situations they put barricades up in the central divide to make it impossible or at least very daunting for you to even try to cross like that.
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While DaNang isn't nearly as bad because there are breaks in traffic, I was recently in Saigon and getting across the street was a very daunting task. If you are waiting for a break in traffic you are going to be there until the middle of the night. I'm sure that pedestrian overpasses exist in Vietnam somewhere, but I have never seen one. Like a lot of things in Vietnam, there is a system to crossing the road and I believe this came into being out of necessity. The government has done almost nothing to accommodate pedestrians in Vietnam and you don't have to be here very long to figure that out.
Therefore, it is very easy for me to declare Thailand the winner on accommodating pedestrians on the roads. VERY easy.
Quality of footpaths
This is a tough one to do because in both countries the footpaths/sidewalks will normally get completely filled with things other than your feet. Sidewalks quickly become motorbike or car parking spots and other places someone is able to bribe the police to allow them to set up a temporary market or even a semi-permanent cafe of sorts. Therefore the walkways are kind of useless in both. In Vietnam and Thailand you will frequently find yourself walking on the street rather than the designated footpath because everywhere is a marketplace or a parking lot it seems.
However, I will give Thailand a slight edge here because very little of the sidewalks are actually permanently "sold" to venders to set up a stall there, or take over the sidewalk for additional seating for their restaurant or cafe. In Vietnam, this is just the norm. Any footpath or sidewalk will be negated as the owners of the adjacent business will take over the area that was likely originally intended to be for people to walk. There are rare exceptions such as protected areas like the beachfront boardwalk, but that is changing as time passes. What was once a walking area only is quickly turning into a string of food trucks and even permanent buildings on the beach that have taken away most of the walking area for their own seating.
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You can see here that just this one food truck has taken up half of the overall walkway and they encroach a little bit more and more with things like live music and extending their seating area if it calls for it. There doesn't seem to be any sort of enforcement so at busy times, simply trying to walk down this way is an exercise in futility and frustration.
Thailand barely edges ahead in this category because at least they don't allow anyone to permanently take over the sidewalk for their business. They will allow them during certain times of day but the rest of the time it is not allowed to be a parking lot or market. Both systems are terrible for foot traffic but at least Thailand makes some effort to give space to people that are walking.
The Winner!
I'll admit that I added the last section of this merely because I needed to declare a winner and not a draw. The reality is that both countries are rather terrible at accommodating foot traffic but then again, there is such a greater population density in Thailand and Vietnam that I don't really know what could be done to make this better!
Thailand wins this section, by a toe