Hanoi Traffic

Old town Hanoi provided one of the most frenetic city experiences I've had anywhere in the world. With 3.5 million motor scooters and survival of the fittest apparently the only rule of the road, the average western tourist has to quickly adapt … or die! The realization that every day Vietnamese parents either carry their young children out into this maelstrom as pillion passengers on their scooters or send them out as pedestrians gave me just enough faith in the system to venture forth. Eye contact with every scooter, car, truck and bus driver is essential for safe passage across the street. Local pedestrians seem to stroll aimlessly through the darting, honking traffic but westerners accustomed to crosswalks, lights and rules are fairly timid at first. 

After a couple days I became more emboldened and strode reasonably confidently across a very wide intersection at dusk. Seeing a bus and a large van bearing and blaring down on me, I decided my safest option was to scoot out of the path of the bus and into that of the van. Bad call! The van driver knew I was a lily livered foreigner and braked and honked to a halt so close that I could touch his bull bar with the hand I waved feebly in his direction as a plea for my life. My new found courage went out the window and for the duration of my Vietnam visit I'll be more discerning about the size and speed of those I share the road with. I swear I'll never again use the term 'if I'm hit by a bus tomorrow'! 

That said, despite the ridiculous volume of traffic and lack of rules, we haven't witness a single accident, except on the morning we left town when we came upon some major congestion caused when one hapless scooter driver lost a heavy hessian bag the size of a refrigerator from his pillion seat and needed the help of 3 men to place it back on the scooter!  

Note the pedestrians with the pink umbrella waiting for the right moment to walk into the fray! 

Screen shot from video of Hanoi street scene at night

Unfortunately it's not possible to upload videos to YouTube from Vietnam so the videos of these scenes will have to wait until we leave the country.