Hanoi! Traffic? Ahhhh!!

After the long bus ride from Vientiane, I finally reached Vietnam and the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. First impression: holy motorbike traffic, Batman! Never has crossing the street been such an ordeal. The thing is, traffic never ceases, so you can't just stand on the corner and wait for the street to be clear and then cross. If you did that, you'd be standing there literally all day. The trick is this: wait until there are no cars (only motorbikes) and just start walking slowly and steadily, trusting the motorbikes to weave around you. If you stop or change your speed or just move unpredictably, you will probably get hit. And for god's sake, DON'T RUN! If you run, you will be run down. It's absolutely terrifying at first, but you get the hang of it. The other day I saw some little 8 year old Vietnamese school boys just walking into rush hour traffic, chatting away to each other, completely oblivious to the hundreds of possible deaths whizzing by them. Definitely professionals. I don't have my own video to show, but thanks to the wonders of the youtubes! you can see a very good example of the process here:

I've heard that traffic in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is even worse. Awesome!