Hanoi is completely different from Taipei. They both have lots of traffic, including tons of scooters and motorcycles, but while Tawan drivers follow most of the rules of the road, the rule in Hanoi is: There are no rules. Hanoi roads don't have lanes, there are very few stoplights, and it's perfectly normal to make a right turn from the left lane or to go the wrong way down a one-way street. When crossing the street, scooters will generally weave around you, cars will flash their lights at you and probably slow down, but buses just keep right on going. Before we got here, people told us that the traffic never stops. I wondered how vehicles made it through the intersection. Well, they just sort of muscle their way through. The saving grace is that they rarely get above 15-20 mph. From a distance, it really does look like a swarm of insects moving in all directions!
Here are two shots of the traffic in the old section of
Hanoi. Our biggest accomplishment so far has been
crossing the street!!
Scooters carry everything from flowers to small refrigerators
to crates of eggs. In this case, the bottle didn't survive
a crash. Amazingly enough, we've seen very few accidents.
Women and men both use this traditional
way of carrying vegetables, etc. These
hats are also very common, but are only
worn by women.
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