THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 61 I rode my scooter daily on my way to work for USAID at the U.S. consulate in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. The consulate was built at the site of the pre-1975 U.S. embassy, known from images of last-minute helicopter evacuations of Americans and American-aligned personnel in April 1975. When I first sallied forth into Saigon’s scooter-centric soul, I thought I was entering chaos. In time, with the benefit of two years of scooter driving behind me, I’ve learned that Saigon’s twowheel universe actually brings the possibility of serenity—even profound life lessons—if you approach the task with an open mind. To absorb many of life’s great lessons, you just need to jump on a two-wheeler and ride around the city. In Saigon, being right is less important than being accommodating. Sure, there are rules on the books. In practice, however, nearly anyone can do nearly anything, anytime. In the absence of crosswalks, pedestrians cross even crowded thoroughfares at will—miraculously, nearly always successfully. With traffic lights a rarity, diverging traffic finds its way through confusing intersections with astonishing smoothness. The near absence of accidents despite the chaos would baffle someone trained in a more rules-oriented system. (Just think of U.S. streets when a traffic light fails.) Rules, of course, are important. But so is a bit of flexibility and imagination. On the streets of Saigon, everyone is accommodating. Scale the approach up to the national level, and this results in Vietnam’s famous “bamboo diplomacy,” which enables Vietnam to exist in a confusing, contested part of the A local family travels through Ho Chi Minh City in style, 2023. JANNEN MAY USAID’s Samir Goswami visited the Selex Motors factory, which manufactures electric scooters and batteries, on February 27, 2024. USAID VIETNAM
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