I know its rather un-PC to say this & it is a colourful & vibrant city but the uncontrolled traffic mayhem is unbearably insane - it makes the crazy Indian roads seem like models of order & discipline. At least there you can use the pavements & traffic lights do occasionally stop traffic so pedestrians can cross the roads.
I like to explore on foot but nearly every pavement in old town Hanoi is blocked with parked motorcycles, pavement kitchens, baby stools for dining, motorcycle workshops & of course street sellers. So you can't walk more than 20 yards without having to walk at least twice as far in the road - & then there are the roads.
The French Quarter & the Old Quarter are a maze of streets & byways which must have been full of character before the millions of motorcycles turned them into a city-wide moto-cross track.
No local people walk anywhere, everyone either has a bike or rides pillion with the moto-cross taxi-bike racers, who haunt every street corner.
The zebra crossings at every junction have no meaning beyond road decoration & I don't think I saw more than a couple of working sets of traffic lights, so the traffic simply never stops. There's no let up, it just keeps coming & coming until eventually you have to walk out in front of on-coming traffic or go back & cower in your hotel room.
To get from anywhere to anywhere means crossing dozens of roads so that's dozens of episodes of blood curdling expletives & elevated blood pressure.
Bizarrely its a relief to see a car or truck on the road because at least they tend to go in a straight line, its only a single moving object to watch out for, but best of all it displaces perhaps 6 weaving & swerving motorcycles that might just go anywhere.
I also blame the traffic for having eaten at the KFC next door to my hotel. I'm not prepared to squat on a 12 inch baby stool to eat some street noodles & its too much bloody hassle to go further afield.
Maybe I'm just getting more intolerant with age - but no, I think Hanoi is a bloody pain in the arse - unless of course you give up & add to the mayhem by taking to the roads yourself.
Couldn't disagree more ....I loved the chaos of the traffic and the street food ...and street beer. Sitting with my toes almost being driven over while drinking Beer Hoi, is a memory that will last a lifetime!
ReplyDelete