Hanoi is an interesting city, When I first arrived in the city it was night time because my flight so delayed so i didnt get the best first impression. After I woke up the next morning and decided to walk around I thought a lot better of it.
The main thing i think i like about it was that there was trees everywhere. They had lots of really nice trees lining all the streets so the air was still nice even with all of the motorbikes riding around. And there were a lot of them. I thought that all of the other cities that i had been to had lots of biked bus Hanoi set the bar to a new level. There were what seemed millions of them on the streets all the time. And they are the main reason the driving style was different than everywhere else. First of all there are literally no road rules at all. None. Even though there are traffic lights that most people actually obey you apparently dont have to if you dont like to. The other main things that is different is that the horn has a different meaning.
Correct me if im wrong but in Canada we use the horn very rarely mostly to prevent serious accidents when people arent paying attention.
Here they use their horn to alert people that you are there. So you will get the people who use it appropriately with a gentle beep when a motorbike is pulling off the sidewalk or when going around a blind corner. Then you will get the people who just hold down their horn as they drive though the street. Not kidding. There are also the people who have adapted different horns, seemingly train horns or fog horns and put them in their taxi's to piss everyone off.
Also that paved path in front of the buildings (sidewalks) is really just a parking lot and shortcut of the bikes. So you always have to be careful when walking anywhere cause a person on a bike will come out of nowhere and park right in front of you, hop off, and run into a store. Considering the number of people in the city (6.5 million) and the fact that every building was a store this happened a lot. All the buildings are at least 3 stories tall and every single one looked completely different. I found it really interesting the way that they sold things. As you go through the city you will notice that you can buy different things depending on the area that you are in. Walking along the street you might find that every store sells metal works and then a little ways down the road everything will be selling decorations and if you keep going you might find electronics. I guess it makes it kind of convenient if you know what you are looking to buy. Cause then you just go to that street and all your options are right there. It isnt so useful when you are just wandering around and want to browse stores because then you would have to go though the whole city or else you would be looking at the exact same things.
One day me and a couple girls i met decided to go explore the city and see what it had to offer. There are lots of different war museums which none of us were interested in so we ended up going to the literature park and Ho Chi Man mausoleum. I didnt get to go inside and see his body which is on display but only in the morning until 10am. We decided to get a taxi back and even choosing one from one of the trusted companies in Hanoi we ended up getting ripped off because it had a rigged meter. So we got out and walked the rest of the way.
One night while I was sitting eating dinner at a place just outside my hostel I turned around to a loud crash. Just across the street there was 4 guys who were replacing the glass windows of a store front. Somehow the glass broke and shattered. Everyone in the area stopped what they were doing and craned their necks to look. there were people who peered out of windows from above and stuck their heads out of little alley-ways i didnt even know existed. One of the guys who was helping with the window ran over to his motorbike and pulled up in front of the broken glass. Two guys hopped on the back, One holding his bleeding head, the other clutching a gash on his arm and they drove off to receive medical attention I guess?
Remember to comment and pass on!
Correct me if im wrong but in Canada we use the horn very rarely mostly to prevent serious accidents when people arent paying attention.
Here they use their horn to alert people that you are there. So you will get the people who use it appropriately with a gentle beep when a motorbike is pulling off the sidewalk or when going around a blind corner. Then you will get the people who just hold down their horn as they drive though the street. Not kidding. There are also the people who have adapted different horns, seemingly train horns or fog horns and put them in their taxi's to piss everyone off.
Also that paved path in front of the buildings (sidewalks) is really just a parking lot and shortcut of the bikes. So you always have to be careful when walking anywhere cause a person on a bike will come out of nowhere and park right in front of you, hop off, and run into a store. Considering the number of people in the city (6.5 million) and the fact that every building was a store this happened a lot. All the buildings are at least 3 stories tall and every single one looked completely different. I found it really interesting the way that they sold things. As you go through the city you will notice that you can buy different things depending on the area that you are in. Walking along the street you might find that every store sells metal works and then a little ways down the road everything will be selling decorations and if you keep going you might find electronics. I guess it makes it kind of convenient if you know what you are looking to buy. Cause then you just go to that street and all your options are right there. It isnt so useful when you are just wandering around and want to browse stores because then you would have to go though the whole city or else you would be looking at the exact same things.
One night while I was sitting eating dinner at a place just outside my hostel I turned around to a loud crash. Just across the street there was 4 guys who were replacing the glass windows of a store front. Somehow the glass broke and shattered. Everyone in the area stopped what they were doing and craned their necks to look. there were people who peered out of windows from above and stuck their heads out of little alley-ways i didnt even know existed. One of the guys who was helping with the window ran over to his motorbike and pulled up in front of the broken glass. Two guys hopped on the back, One holding his bleeding head, the other clutching a gash on his arm and they drove off to receive medical attention I guess?
Remember to comment and pass on!
Hayden!
ReplyDeleteYou look like you're having such an amazing adventure! I can't wait to hear all your stories in person when you get back! So make sure to come back and visit! ;)
The little beeps on the horn to alert people also happen in Italy ... Rome crawls with Vespas. I'm enjoying your blog and photos ... keep it up!
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