Motorcycle madness

How to survive crossing the streets in Hanoi
One of the first things you notice when you get to Hanoi is the sheer number of motorbikes that roam around the city. It is just crazy, at first glance. However, once you have been there for a few days, you start to notice the hierarchy of importance in street traffic. It goes like this: buses and lorries first, then cars, then motorbikes, then bicycles and then finally you as a pedestrian. Some subtleties exists still like what type of number plate the vehicle has, or the size of the car. But for the most part, you as a pedestrian trying to cross the road, or just even walk around, are at the bottom of the pit. It is up to you to move out of the way and avoid being hit/mauled/run by all the other moving parts of this crazy ecosystem living in some sort of organised chaos that more or less actually works!
So how do you cross the road? The best way is to latch on to a local and follow exactly what they do keeping in mind the following: keep a even pace while crossing the streets, and definitely make eye contact with all motorcycle drivers as this will help them avoid you. Oh and one last thing: yes, the cars ARE aiming for you 🙂
Hope you enjoy the images below…
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