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Published: November 16th 2006
Holy shit!
From the slow paced, relaxing, pampering and smiles of Loas to the crazy, abrupt, "get out of the way or ill run you down" rush of Vietnam.
The flight from Vientiane to Hanoi is only 50 minutes but one you step off the plane there is a world of difference.
First of all the people look different and are much taller than the Thais or Loas locals. From the moment the taxi driver literally snatched the money off me, grabbed me and threw me into the cab i knew we were in for something different.
Hanoi is such a shock to the system. After a month of chilling and everyone looking after you you hit this place and get steam rolled over!!
For the first day or two Will and i were feeling sorry for ourselves as no one stopped to answer our pleas for directions, no one spoke english and no one seemed to care about poor us. But it was maybe a reality check we needed and i am now warming to the place and its people. Learn a few words like hello and thank you, be a bit cheeky and they will smile and have
the craic with you otherwise you are just ignored.
Here you have to be more aggressive but in a friendly way and people will then smile. Its hard to explain really.
This is a city of around 4 million and EVERYONE goes around on their moped and 100 miles an hour. Its madness! millions of mopeds, you cannot walk on the footpaths coz they are full with parked mopeds so you walk on the road, hardly any traffic lights and the most important possesion is the horn on the bike or car. Basically you use your horn when passing someone out, being over taken, approaching a cross road(which dont have lights by the way check out the video!!!), and for every 10 meters you travel!! The noise and chaos in the city takes more than a day to get used to and crossing the road is hillarious....not. What you have to do is just walk out infront of the on coming traffic(because there is no break in it), and face the traffic. You hope they see you and swerve around you, thats all there is to it really. You get used to it, and its actually fun to see
Motorbike madness
This photo doesnt come close to giving a real idea of the traffic herethe stampede of traffic just part like the sea did for moses, but its terrifying the first time. You have an urge to run when your in the middle of the road but dont.....coz you will die. I was just about getting the hang of it when some fella ran into me on his moped and a bike coming the other way too. No one was hurt as they were both going very slow.....i suppose he didnt want to waste the pertrol swerving me!
Anyway from hanoi we have booked a 3 day tour of Ha Long bay and then Sapa. They should be good fun. Ill let you know how i get on.......so far so good in Vietnam!
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anne whelan
non-member comment
Hi Chris
Hi Chris, glad you survived all the mopeds, now you know how we felt when you had one! Sounds like you are having a great time. I enjoyed reading the bike ride and the children hitching a lift on the back. You never changed, remember you squirted the postman and made off on the bike. Lots of Love Mam