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Published: August 9th 2007
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anything goes in this city You probably already have an idea of what this city might sound like... Yes, a big honking ground! And these guys luuuuuve their honks! They use them to say: "I'm here!!!" And you have to remember, out of 4m people, 3m have a bike, and so they can make quite a racket... The traffic rules are easy and as follows:
1. You mainly drive on the right but driving on the left is acceptable, usually short distance though.
2. One way street rule applies only for long distance journeys.
3. Do as much slalom as the traffic permits - lanes are for lame drivers without sense of adventure.
4. Never use your breaks unless really forced to - what's the fun driving and stopping??
5. Carry as many passengers on a motorbike as physically possible, ideally one family on one motorbike - there are already too many vehicles on the roads, why encourage even more??
6. The priority road or traffic lights rules do not apply - just concentrate.
7. Cars have priority at all times - they are bigger than anyone else on the roads and can (and will) do you harm. Stay away from them at any cost.
8. You can turn left or right from whichever side of the road you are on - spontaneity is well-supported here.
9. Socialising while on a motorbike is strongly recommended and practiced - just be careful.
10. Keep a steady pace while crossing the road. Stopping, slowing down or running can cause a major accident and unpleasant injuries.
11. Mirrors are unnecessary. Just beep as much as possible - you must let others know you are on the road.
It will only be fair to say that all of this is really working well and I think I have only seen one accident so far, so not bad at all! I must secretly confess I'm enjoying this madness and find crossing the roads really entertaining. Every time you get to the other side, you get to feel ALIVE - how often do you get to feel that, huh?? But the thing I love most is sitting at the back of a motorbike, so basically being right in the middle of it all. One thing of advice: do not wear short skirts while on bikes - it attracts too much unwanted attention and people suddenly fancy a chat in the
middle of the road. A great recipe for an accident, I say!
Other than that, Hanoi has really made a huge impression on me - it's an exciting city where every day is never the same ("same same but different", as they say). It's full of bright colours and bustles with life almost 24/7. You can find anything you want in there - fun, culture, noise, peace & quiet and amazing people. I had a great time in there and felt really sad when I was leaving it, which was a first as so far, I had always been ready to move on to the next destination.
Hang on, I just realised I completely forgot to report what happened on the border from Lao to Vietnam!! OK, here it goes: we took a 24 hr bus from Vientiane to Hanoi which turned out to be one of the worst buses I had seen. It wasn't a good sign and we all knew it. We had everything on that bus: rice bags, a fridge (not for use of course, just being transported), a bicycle, a big standing fan, cartons of Lao Red Bull and many other unidentified items
that we didn't even bother to remember. The only thing we didn't have were chickens (or pigs) but I was just fine to draw a line there. Anyway, we left at 7pm, already fearing of what the future had stored for us. After barely 4 hrs, the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere in some place that you could hardly call a restaurant. That was all fine but the biggest news was still to come: we were there for...5 hrs as the border was closed at that time. Now, all of us would normally turn around and ask ourselves: why did we leave at 7pm then??!! Not the locals - for them it made a perfect sense and so we had to suck it up and do what the locals do. When in Rome...right?
The morning didn't turn out to be without surprises either. We got to the border and experienced, what we Westerners would call, a complete lack of any queueing system. Most of the crowd was Vietnamese against 7 of us, so it was mayhem. And again, when in Rome... Eventually, after elbowing a few locals, we managed to get our departure stamps. It wasn't the
bonsai tree
James Barrett beat this! end yet...
Vietnamese side turned out to be less than friendly or logical. Actually, just forget the logic - it's way too different from ours, if it exist at all! We showed our passports to the moody immigration officer who, after a close inspection, asked for the id's of our respective countries. What the hell??!! I said I didn't have mine as it's not an international document and the passport with a visa should be just fine (as it had been in other countries). "No entry to Vietnam!" I heard and I got my passport rejected. No explanations would help - he just wouldn't look at it for about an hr or so. Others had the same problem and so we stayed there for quite a while begging them to look at our passports. The biggest problem was that they actually didn't speak a word of English, so anything we said was simply a waste of our breaths.
My Californian friend Mary had a bigger problem: she was held there for 8 hrs (the bus obviously left) and had to call her embassy as they just wouldn't let her through! Talking about not liking Americans, hey?
I won't
get in all the details but I have to say, it wasn't a great beginning to our Vietnamese chapter. I decided to keep an open mind though and I'm really glad I did as so far Vietnam has been incredible - it's fast-paced, exciting and full of dramatic views - absolutely spectacular and breathtaking... More about Vietnamese people next time as we took our time to really understand how they work and it's nothing you'd expect... Well, the whole thing about Asia is that it's never what it seems...
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Hanoi - miasto pelne ludzi na motorach i skuterach. Wszyscy to pipcza tak czesto jal sie da - zasada jest taka, ze jak ktos nie pipczy, to nie jest dobrym kierowca. Zasad na drogach tu praktycznie nie ma: jezdzi sie po prawej stronie, ale mozna i po lewej. Skreca sie z kazdej strony w jakakolwiek ulice - jedno lub dwukierunkowa - naprawde nie ma to znaczenia. Swiatla na skrzyzowaniach tez sa od parady - 50% sie zatrzymuje, a drugie 50% jak jechalo tak jedzie dalej. Przechodzenie przez droge tez jest przygoda sama w sobie - trzeba utrzymywac to samo tempo az sie dotrze na druga strone.
Nie mozna przyspeszac ani sie zatrzymywac, bo moze to spowodowac wypadek. Niezla zabawa, co?
Mi osobiscie bardzo sie to podoba, a jeszcze bardziej siedzenie na motorze z tylu - ruch uliczny powinien byc tutaj atrakcja turystyczna nr.1!
Oprocz zwariowanych zmotoryzowanych, jest tutaj wiele miejsc do zobaczenia: ichniejsze swiatynie, mosty, niesamowita architektura, teatr z kukielkami wodnymi, rynek z roznymi dziwactwami, na ktore nie moge nawet patrzec, a kore oni jedza, i tym podobne.
Musze przyznac, szkoda mi bylo opuszczac Hanoi, bo jest tam mnostwo rzeczy, ktorych nie zdazylam zrobic i miejsc, ktorych nie zdazylam zobaczyc. Moze ktoregos dnia zawitam tam ponownie. Jak na razie czas goni, a szkoda, bo Wietnam okazal sie byc niesamowitym miejscem, gdzie spokojnie mozna spedzic min. miesiac i ciagle miec niedosyt...
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mon78
Monika Jus
national ID = cash
Yeah, we finally gave in and tried giving them money but they didn't want it!!! I think they simply enjoyed giving foreigners a hard time. Plus, knowing their love for Americans, the girl from the States got the worst treatment. Go communism, hey?