riding in Vietnam
Hi there! I just spent a week in Hanoi where I drove around in a scooter.
Bike to car ratio is more or less 50/1. As time passed I also started "getting" the rules: everyone is inside his own bubble and only seems to care for himself. All wear helmet and most are busy on the phone: doing calls or texting. A large number carries the oddest things on the bike: from the entire family (like 5 members) to living animals, 20 ft. long steel tubes or pieces of furniture.... the most interesting thing I observed is that all drivers seem to have simultaneous reactions to things constantly happening on the streets, as if being part of a pack or a flock. If a car suddenly stops in the middle of the street the motorbike flow splits in two, drives around the obstacle to rejoin some meters ahead. There are no arguments, nor cursing, nor getting mad.
Traffic lights seem to be there "just in case" as reactions to red lights are quite variable: some stop during the whole lengt of the red light, others only during a fraction of it (... and dive at full speed into the crossing traffic), the rest dont care at all... It is really a very well organized chaos!
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