Hanoi traffic WTF !

[uk_vette]

Hi all,

How does one ever ride motorbike in Hanoi city center !!!
Seriously, this is just crazy.
I have seen Paris, Rome, Thailand, Crete, Beijing, and Shanghai, but this in Hanoi is awsome, seriously, "wall to wall bikes"
We went out earlier for a short walk, and the thought riding motorbikes in the traffic tomorrow, starts to worry me.

I hope it is less conjested the further out of the old quarter we can get.

vette

Edited by uk_vette on Monday 5th December 14:27

[Leadfoot]

uk_vette said:

How does one ever ride motorbike in Hanoi city center !!!

By getting pi55ed first!

My theory only went (quite badly) wrong once...

[johnnywgk]

Don't do it! Take the bus or hire a car.

[phumy]

Saigon is pretty much the same, even the Vietnamese have been complaining in the last few months.

[v15ben]

Spend an evening by the lake watching the "dating by moped" where the young lads and girls ride around flirting with each other through the traffic and eventually swap onto the moped of the person they fancy.

Hanoi is an awesome place. I took a moped taxi around the city when I was there. Great fun, if totally insane!

[Shay HTFC]

Its great fun when you get the hang of it. Once you're in the zone its almost like playing a computer game, working out the best way through the utter chaos with inches to spare on either side.

The crossroads are the maddest bit - Get used to pulling right over onto the far side of the oncoming lane so you can avoid having to cross oncoming traffic when turning. I would kill to spend just one more day riding in Vietnamese city traffic.

[phumy]

It becomes second nature when you live here and sometimes becomes a drag when you need to get somewhere quick. In fact getting anywhere quick in the cities is almost impossible unless its during the early hours of the night.

[uk_vette]

Thanks for the many replies

We had good street BBQ food last night, and a sound sleep.
So today we will go to change some foreign into VND domestic.
It's pretty pointless all the '00000000 on the notes though.
Reminds me of the OLD Turkish lira, before they adopted the NEW Turkish lira.
Dispensing with the multitude of '000000.

Any way, back on topic, we have a small hotel room just a few buildings away from the motorbike hire shop.

I was a little concerned about getting out of the "city center".
The shop owner said, for $10 he will send some one with us, to put us on the right road to Hai Phong.

Looking at the Google map, it looks """not too bad"""
But in reality, there will be no time at all to glance at street names in the maddening crowd of bike/scooter riders.

vette.

[rsv gone!]

Crossing the road is quite a challenge initially. It actually gets easier if you're drunk.

Just walk slowly across the road and the bikes just flow around you. It is my belief that they ride their bikes as they would walk. Just as pedestrians walk around each other in a shopping centre.

[anonymous-user]

Does it 'work' because it's total chaos and people can't go very fast and have to look out everywhere for cars, bikes, mopeds, cows, whatever

or

doesn't it work at all and hundreds of people are killed every day?

[phumy]

el stovey said:

Does it 'work' because it's total chaos and people can't go very fast and have to look out everywhere for cars, bikes, mopeds, cows, whatever

or

doesn't it work at all and hundreds of people are killed every day?

Hahaha, both work and both are true...

[Extra 300 Driver]

I just have no idea how, but it seems to work

http://vimeo.com/32958521

[Shay HTFC]

Extra 300 Driver said:

I just have no idea how, but it seems to work

http://vimeo.com/32958521

Yeah its mad.

Here's just an everyday normal commute in HCMC that I filmed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXDZmgQ2yxI

Edited by Shay HTFC on Tuesday 6th December 13:33

[phumy]

Just flown up from Saigon to Ha noi today and to be honest the traffic here is no where near as bad as Saigon. Pretty quiet today.

[johnnywgk]

Here's just an everyday normal commute in HCMC that I filmed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXDZmgQ2yxI


Not watched that but i don't recomend you hire/buy a bike.

I've spent a lot of time in Asia, and they don't seem to have the same wish to live as we do. Think about your family back home.

There are also scams where the hire Co. steal the hire vehicle back and charge you for it.

Please don't all slate me off for this, as i can't be arsed to post links etc.

Do research on the net, you will find lots of problems to steer clear of.

ps, this is not me slagging Asia, I WONT TO BE THERE, NOW!

Just do a bit of Google/research, and be safe. HTH.