As I awoke, the irritating echo of car horns could be heard.
Even from 32 floors up, the incessant blasts made their way into my condo. And it was brilliant.
For the first time in four months, this was a sign that Ho Chi Minh City was also waking up from one of the world’s toughest lockdowns. Up until then, this had been a ghost city of 9 million people.
For most of this time, residents were only allowed out to go and buy food. When that failed to put a dent in the Covid figures, the government then insisted everyone stayed home completely – even going out for food and water was banned (which, of course, sparked superspreader-like queues just before the ban came in).
Inevitably, people grew fed up with such draconian restrictions, and began going for walks and finding ways around the rules, despite the risk of being fined. In our condo, we would surreptiously head to the basement so my children could at least run around for a few minutes each day. Walking around the condo’s car park was off-limits and pedantic guards would run across to remind us so if we dared try.
Although the Covid numbers have remained roughly the same for the past four months, vaccinations have now taken off and, crucially, big business threatened to move production if the government didn’t re-open things soon. Vietnam is a major producer of goods and their lack of productivity is one of the reasons behind global shortages.
And so, just as fast as they came, the restrictions have gone. I can walk around my car park again without fear of being admonished, although there remains a suspion that a guard will leap out any moment and tell me to go home. It will be interesting to see how easily we adapt, having been conditioned to avoid any kind of contact for most of the year. It’s still hard to imagine being around other people, let alone people with no masks on.
For now, it’s simply a relief to have some basic rights back. After I had woken up to the noise of revving bikes and horns, I took my bicycle and its flat tyres out to a garage for repairs. Within seconds of stepping outside, it began pouring down and I found myself sheltering under a flimsy tree, getting soaked. And it was fabulous.
Source: BBC
