Noisy Neighbours

Just remember one important rule, cars,trucks and buses don't give way....ever.

I really wonder why they have to do a driving test for motorcycles here.
Nobody follows the rules.
The only rule that applies here is: They only care what happens in the field of view of 120° to the front. The others are responsible for everything else.

Wherever it is somehow possible they drive through. If there is no room on the street, it's on the sidewalk. I am really surprised that they don't drive through open front doors. 
Like water which follows only one rule: The way of least resistance.

When I so walk through the streets, I see mainly bored people sitting around. But apparently every second counts on the motorbike. Regardless of the consequences, which could also be human lives. 

Andy Passenger wrote:

I really wonder why they have to do a driving test for motorcycles here.
Nobody follows the rules.
The only rule that applies here is: They only care what happens in the field of view of 120° to the front. The others are responsible for everything else.

Wherever it is somehow possible they drive through. If there is no room on the street, it's on the sidewalk. I am really surprised that they don't drive through open front doors. 
Like water which follows only one rule: The way of least resistance.

When I so walk through the streets, I see mainly bored people sitting around. But apparently every second counts on the motorbike. Regardless of the consequences, which could also be human lives. 

More often than not I'm actually walking on the street as opposed to on the sidewalk/pavement, which is there for anything but walking.   Parking motorbikes, riding motorbikes, drinking tea, playing chess, goodness knows what else.

In hanoi it's particularly bad. I've been literally cut-up while walking on the pavement by motorcylist just turning in to the pavement to park. I've had to step on to the street to stop colliding. Isn't it meant to be the other way round? Street for driving/riding, pavement for walking? 

Yogi007 wrote:

G'day,
..........
If the musics loud....Yogi tells them to turn the volume UP. “ Play it again Sam”.😆.   If your drinker , sit outside their front door with a cheap bottle of plonk & sing along with it ,,,out of tune of course.

That may work.

Have you (or maybe a mate) tried and tested this and succeeded? If yes, it'll be great to have some background on what happened.

Andy Passenger wrote:

The only rule that applies here is: They only care what happens in the field of view of 120° to the front. The others are responsible for everything else.

Exactly! I summarize the Vietnamese Golden Rule of Driving as "Don't Hit Anything". It is universally accepted that the only way you can cause an accident is if your vehicle strikes another. So it is simple, nothing else you do can be your fault: u turns, cutting across lanes, going the wrong way, stopping dead in the middle of the street to check your phone, pulling into traffic without looking, speeding, turning left from the right lane, passing then braking...

It makes for the best defensive drivers in the world. Cars are so defensive they drive like snails in the city.
The beauty is that everybody accepts the rule. Just think of the road rage if they didn't.

Except this one time, on a big one way street, Vo Thi Sau, an old lady decided now was a good time to push her food cart out of the hem into the racetrack. I was so shocked I remember it vividly - this guy next to me slammed on his brakes in plenty of time, and then YELLED at her!   
I couldn't believe it, who knows what was wrong with him, road rage? must have been mentally ill.

sanooku wrote:

More often than not I'm actually walking on the street as opposed to on the sidewalk/pavement, which is there for anything but walking. .....:

  Just be careful! ... this is official.
Vietnam to punish pedestrians for traffic law violations in 2018

Andy Passenger wrote:

I really wonder why they have to do a driving test for motorcycles here.
Nobody follows the rules.
The only rule that applies here is: They only care what happens in the field of view of 120° to the front. The others are responsible for everything else.

Wherever it is somehow possible they drive through. If there is no room on the street, it's on the sidewalk. I am really surprised that they don't drive through open front doors. 
Like water which follows only one rule: The way of least resistance.

When I so walk through the streets, I see mainly bored people sitting around. But apparently every second counts on the motorbike. Regardless of the consequences, which could also be human lives. 

I am sure that sooner you will be unhappy in Vietnam too.

senwl wrote:

... Just be careful! ... this is official.
Vietnam to punish pedestrians for traffic law violations in 2018

Don't worry!, I will! Anyway, I'm not in a crowded city anymore. Instead chosen a quiet city that has wide roads and sidewalks (the sidewalks by the beach front are nearly as wide as the grand canyon!). The roads are so wide (and traffic so little) no one really finds the need to ride on the pavement.

BTW, do you know the penalty for a motorcyclist riding on the pavement and causing death. Is it the same 7-15 years?

Collwing wrote:

Andy Passenger wrote:

I really wonder why they have to do a driving test for motorcycles here.
Nobody follows the rules.
The only rule that applies here is: They only care what happens in the field of view of 120° to the front. The others are responsible for everything else.

Wherever it is somehow possible they drive through. If there is no room on the street, it's on the sidewalk. I am really surprised that they don't drive through open front doors. 
Like water which follows only one rule: The way of least resistance.

When I so walk through the streets, I see mainly bored people sitting around. But apparently every second counts on the motorbike. Regardless of the consequences, which could also be human lives. 

I am sure that sooner you will be unhappy in Vietnam too.

I am here because my wife and not because of the "driving skills" of the Vietnamese.
Mega-cities like HCMC was never my desired destination.
I will not stay here for long time for sure.

Andy Passenger wrote:

Collwing wrote:

Andy Passenger wrote:

I really wonder why they have to do a driving test for motorcycles here.
Nobody follows the rules.
The only rule that applies here is: They only care what happens in the field of view of 120° to the front. The others are responsible for everything else.

Wherever it is somehow possible they drive through. If there is no room on the street, it's on the sidewalk. I am really surprised that they don't drive through open front doors. 
Like water which follows only one rule: The way of least resistance.

When I so walk through the streets, I see mainly bored people sitting around. But apparently every second counts on the motorbike. Regardless of the consequences, which could also be human lives. 

I am sure that sooner you will be unhappy in Vietnam too.

I am here because my wife and not because of the "driving skills" of the Vietnamese.
Mega-cities like HCMC was never my desired destination.
I will not stay here for long time for sure.

Getting your wife to move may become a problem.

Don't worry colinoscapee.
My wife follow me wherever I want to go.
I'm the one who does not want to bring her too far away from her family.
But as sanooku already shows in his last post, there are also good places in Vietnam.
HCMC is only my primal-destination in Asia.

senwl wrote:

sanooku wrote:

More often than not I'm actually walking on the street as opposed to on the sidewalk/pavement, which is there for anything but walking. .....:

  Just be careful! ... this is official.
Vietnam to punish pedestrians for traffic law violations in 2018

That's ridiculous.
The more developed a country is, the better the pedestrians and cyclists are protected. The opposite is done here.
Sometimes it is safer for pedestrians to cross the road off the crosswalk. Or have you ever experienced someone stopping for you, even though you have the green light?
I always have to hold back my wife not to go across a crossroads but to use the crosswalk.

The best article is 4: 
... When carrying bulky items, pedestrians have to make their items do not interfere with the traffic and other people.

When you consider that you see such pictures here every day in real life.

And have you ever seen that people really carry bulky items? 

Re " driving through front doors". It HAS happened. In Thanh 10km west of Nha Trang aome years ago, a truck driver went to sleep and drove straight through the front of a clothing shop. Fortunately no one was injured.

RE: have you ever seen really bulky items on motorbikes?

I've lost  count0 of the fridges I've seen on motor bikes. But what really made me chuckle was the complete housekeeping kit of washing machine, vaccuum cleaner and iron.

sanooku wrote:

Yogi007 wrote:

G'day,
..........
If the musics loud....Yogi tells them to turn the volume UP. “ Play it again Sam”.😆.   If your drinker , sit outside their front door with a cheap bottle of plonk & sing along with it ,,,out of tune of course.

That may work.

Have you (or maybe a mate) tried and tested this and succeeded? If yes, it'll be great to have some background on what happened.

The reason I ask is because I was wondering if a person renting through a landlord/landlady should try your idea at all. It may give the wrong impression to the neighbour and if you ever go to your landlord/landlady afterwards, the neighbour may tell her you were out there "having fun" with them, so they didn't see what the problem was.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea. But I think it's something to try for an expat who has bought a house outright in VN. Also, probably need to carefully judge the situation because if you play your cards wrong, it may escalate even further.

BTW: If your neighbour is making noise after having drinks, probably need extra caution. Never can tell how alcohol affects some people. Some are happy drunks, some are downright nasty. Can be the nicest person on the planet when not drunk, but after a few drinks, things can turn ugly. Here's an example:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 98#3048814

ralphnhatrang wrote:

RE: have you ever seen really bulky items on motorbikes?

I've lost  count0 of the fridges I've seen on motor bikes. But what really made me chuckle was the complete housekeeping kit of washing machine, vaccuum cleaner and iron.

I have already seen such things.
The attached picture above shows only how dangerous such transports are.
I see every day how long rods and tubes are transported, which overhang several meters in front and behind. You are quickly speared and died forever. 

Totally apart form the safety aspects, I always thought that transporting relatively small quantities of building materials by motorbike was inefficient in terms of fossil fuels use.  A single trip with a small truck could easily replace 10-12 motorbike trips.

Something like this would work wonders:



I've seen a few around Saigon. Not many though! the pic was taken in Saigon BTW.

I've been in Saigon for two years now and see these daily. We rented one when we moved a year ago.

Two European travellers who passed my way bought one of those Chinese-made, three wheel motorbike trucks and had to totally rewire it, because the original wiring was pieces of rejoined scrap wire up to 30cm long. When the travellers reached the Thai border, the border police refused to let the mototruck into their country. Nha Trang traffice police refuse to register them, although the countryside police do.

sanooku wrote:

More often than not I'm actually walking on the street as opposed to on the sidewalk/pavement, which is there for anything but walking.   Parking motorbikes, riding motorbikes, drinking tea, playing chess, goodness knows what else.

In hanoi it's particularly bad. I've been literally cut-up while walking on the pavement by motorcylist just turning in to the pavement to park. I've had to step on to the street to stop colliding. Isn't it meant to be the other way round? Street for driving/riding, pavement for walking? 

There is hope for improvement.  http://vietnamnews.vn/society/421109/hc … rking.html
"The People's Committee of HCM City has sent an urgent message to 24 districts to shut down most parking lots using pavements by the end of March."
"The committee said the city had a policy to re-check the operation of parking lots on pavements so that pedestrians received priority."

Now I hope the next improvement is that the police punishes the motorbikes driving on the pavements. Maybe in 2019. Hope is allowed. 

drutter wrote:

I've been in Saigon for two years now and see these daily....

If you see them everyday....Are you working in a shop that rents/sells these by any chance?

Does anyone know where I can find stats on number of cars, vans, motorbikes, three wheel motorbike trucks, buses, and (big) trucks on Vietnamese roads.
It would be great if the stats are by region/province and ordered by year.

Happen to find the official government stats website. However, it doesn't seem to have these.

Did find number of passenger car use in Vietnam with figures per year ranging from 2006 to 2015 here. But that's just cars!

sanooku wrote:

If you see them everyday....Are you working in a shop that rents/sells these by any chance?

Almost every one that is for rent has a phone number stenciled in the back.  However, it is unlikely that the person who answers the phone speaks English.  If you have a VN wife or close friend have them make the call.  I think that these are mostly one man businesses rented as bike and driver.   They wouldn't want to chance you wrecking their bread and butter (or noodles and beef.)

sanooku wrote:

Does anyone know where I can find stats on number of cars, vans, motorbikes, three wheel motorbike trucks, buses, and (big) trucks on Vietnamese roads.
It would be great if the stats are by region/province and ordered by year.

Happen to find the official government stats website. However, it doesn't seem to have these.

Did find number of passenger car use in Vietnam with figures per year ranging from 2006 to 2015 here. But that's just cars!

Any numbers would be just a guess. Mind you, the government seems to be able to quote drug addicts and prostitutes numbers down to the single digit.

Update:
Never had any issues with noise at the apartment where I'm now. However, since about two weeks ago noticed a drastic change. Loud banging noise early morning and doors being slammed from next door after a new couple moved in.

I put up with it until the other day, 5am in the morning I was woken-up by what sounded like someone using a hammer to put nails on the wall (next door). It carried on for about an hour. Later that day (in the evening) I knocked on their door. Middle aged Vietnamese woman answered. I explained that I stayed next door, and that this morning there was some noise involving a hammer. She did not offer any explanation. Instead said that she was also experiencing noise coming from the apartment opposite hers (where a Russian couple is staying). We had a chat about where "we are from" etc. Then left it at that.

Next morning, I was woken-up again around 5am by a huge bang of a closing door. (Our doors are designed as such there is no need for it to be closed with such force. we need to use a key to close it anyway!). So, at around 8:30pm that evening I went and knocked on their door. The lady answered, she was on the phone, so I quickly asked if they could close the doors quietly. She didn't say anything, simply nodded.

Today I had a staff member knocking on my door, trying to tell me (in Vietnamese) that I should telephone reception if there are any noise issues. I didn't understand what she was saying. However, next door was listening to this conversation, and the husband (a western guy) came out to the corridor and said 'if you have any noise issues speak to reception' in a somewhat aggressive tone. The wife/apartment staff also contributed by saying that I had knocked on their door at 09:30pm when the baby was asleep.

The wife did not mention this the night before. Also, I didn't go there at 09:30pm, it was 08:30pm. I wasn't going to split-hairs over this, so to keep good relations, took the first step in apologizing if my visit had caused upset. She then said (in front of the apartment staff) "my husband always closes the door very quietly". I had not even said anything that it was her husband that did it. I then told her "I did hear a loud bang though.." and concluded the conversation.

If you encounter the same, perhaps rethink the "speak to the neighbour" strategy. According to the husband I should've spoken to reception to begin with (or maybe he means the second time I should've gone to reception).

This is why I never live in an apartment.

Our apartment now is on its own floor.  There's only one apartment per floor so there's no neighbour, noisy or otherwise.