One of the first things that hits you when you see Hanoi is how EVERY single person seems to ride motorbikes/mopeds. Whatever you want to call them they are everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean I frequently see motorbikes parked in jewelry stores.I took a xe om (translates to "hug bike") to work on Thursday. It's a very cheap way to go around the city and probably the fastest considering you don't follow any traffic laws. Running red lights, who cares. Answering your cell phone while driving someone, who cares. Driving on the sidewalk, who cares. I guess it wouldn't be Hanoi if you don't get honked at from behind to get out of the way while you are walking on the sidewalk (which happened to me).
Another aspect of traffic that I'll talk about is crossing the street. After you have ridden on a xe om and see exactly how little attention is paid to traffic laws, it makes it very difficult to trust anyone driving a motorized vehicle. The problem is you have to if you want to get across the street. This is no break in traffic so what you do is just trek out into street and try to avoid LARGE cars and trucks. Anything smaller and you have to trust them to avoid you. It sounds and looks like suicide at times but surprisingly it works fairly well. It certainly takes a brave soul. Below is a picture of a street I had to cross to see the most famous lake in Hanoi.
I think I'll continue to edit this post as I see strange things on motorbikes here. I'll start off with:
A family of four
Multiple bushels of rice
20 ft metal beams
Three adults sharing one rain poncho (because it was POURING)
SIX, that's right, SIX toilets
Panes of window glass, and their frames
A headboard
8 open cases of coke......BOTTLES not cans
A 52' LCD flat screen
A Palm tree
A full length mirror
Very funny!
ReplyDelete