Streets of Vietnam
The streets of Vietnam are totally congested with motorbikes and bicycles. It's pon-pon here and pon-pon there and pon-pon everywhere. By the way, pon-pon means honking. Neverending honking. And you just wonder what for? We did asked them why they use the horn so much. Needless to say, we get vague replies. "We are greeting our friend in the other vehicle." Yeah right.
A street junction near the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi
It's a wonder that I did not see any road accidents while I was in Vietnam. The way they drive testify to their superb skills on manoeuvring. You can just stand in the middle of the road and they will not hit you. They just honk at you, glare at you, say a few words in Vietnamese language to you (no need to know what they said and no need to guess), and go around you.
Here's a piece of advice on how to cross a road in Vietnam. Don't look right, don't look left and don't look behind. Just look ahead and cross. Or else you will never get to cross. It's a neverending stream of vehicles, mainly two-wheelers, all the time. It takes a lot of guts to put the first foot forward.
In Hue (pronounced as "Hway"), we made a mistake of renting bicycles to cycle around the small town. That was one TERRIFYING ride. The street nearby where we stayed had little traffic. And since Hue was a small town, I thought it would be safe to cycle around. I mean, I do see some tourists doing that. But the moment we left our street, my whole body never stop shaking. All around me, on the right, left, in front and behind me, were millions and millions of motorbikes and bicycles. Ok, I'm exaggerating about the numbers but it felt that many to me. There were so many that each rider were just inches away from you.
At one point, I did a crazy thing. I knew I was going to hit the rider on my right. But I couldn't go any more forward or I would hit the rider right in front of me. I couldn't go to the left either coz that was the oncoming traffic's lane. So, I did a rather stupid thing... I jumped off my bicycle! Yep, right in the middle of the busy road. Actually, it was bridge accross a river. And fortunately for me, it was a bridge just for two-wheelers. What did I do next? I just stood there. You can imagine all the bikes honking at me. Come to think of it, the amount of honking did not really increase that much. The road was already full of it. But what did increased was people staring at me. Surprisingly, not one motorbike or bicycle hit me. In fact, not a single one even pause in their motion. They just went around me and kept on going. Of course by that time, I was already so embarassed to notice much. I could hear some people laughing at me as they passed by. It took a lot of effort to get my shaky legs and hands moving again, to get on the bicycle again and to start pedalling again. I think the heavens feel sorry for me because a few minutes later, it poured cats and dogs.
A street junction near the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi
It's a wonder that I did not see any road accidents while I was in Vietnam. The way they drive testify to their superb skills on manoeuvring. You can just stand in the middle of the road and they will not hit you. They just honk at you, glare at you, say a few words in Vietnamese language to you (no need to know what they said and no need to guess), and go around you.
Here's a piece of advice on how to cross a road in Vietnam. Don't look right, don't look left and don't look behind. Just look ahead and cross. Or else you will never get to cross. It's a neverending stream of vehicles, mainly two-wheelers, all the time. It takes a lot of guts to put the first foot forward.
In Hue (pronounced as "Hway"), we made a mistake of renting bicycles to cycle around the small town. That was one TERRIFYING ride. The street nearby where we stayed had little traffic. And since Hue was a small town, I thought it would be safe to cycle around. I mean, I do see some tourists doing that. But the moment we left our street, my whole body never stop shaking. All around me, on the right, left, in front and behind me, were millions and millions of motorbikes and bicycles. Ok, I'm exaggerating about the numbers but it felt that many to me. There were so many that each rider were just inches away from you.
At one point, I did a crazy thing. I knew I was going to hit the rider on my right. But I couldn't go any more forward or I would hit the rider right in front of me. I couldn't go to the left either coz that was the oncoming traffic's lane. So, I did a rather stupid thing... I jumped off my bicycle! Yep, right in the middle of the busy road. Actually, it was bridge accross a river. And fortunately for me, it was a bridge just for two-wheelers. What did I do next? I just stood there. You can imagine all the bikes honking at me. Come to think of it, the amount of honking did not really increase that much. The road was already full of it. But what did increased was people staring at me. Surprisingly, not one motorbike or bicycle hit me. In fact, not a single one even pause in their motion. They just went around me and kept on going. Of course by that time, I was already so embarassed to notice much. I could hear some people laughing at me as they passed by. It took a lot of effort to get my shaky legs and hands moving again, to get on the bicycle again and to start pedalling again. I think the heavens feel sorry for me because a few minutes later, it poured cats and dogs.
posted by kwazy berry @ 5:22 PM
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