Venturing Out Into The Streets of Hanoi

Our first walk about the streets of the Old Quarters of Hanoi was a feast for the senses.  The streets are narrow, busy, noisy, and wonderful.  Delicious smells of steamy, hot, food from street vendors tantalize your appetite.  Small motorbikes and vespas rule the road.  The rules of the road indicate that you drive on the right side of the road, but we observed that Vietnamese drive wherever they see an opening!!  As a result, you have an intertwining of vehicles making their way along the streets of Hanoi. As a pedsetrian, you need to make your way across the street dodging, trucks, cars, motorbikes, and other pedestrians.  You need to be highly alert to stay alive!!  If you hear someone honking their horn it's a good idea to stand still and let them maneouver around you. We even saw mothers with children on scooters managing the traffic while talking on cell phones.  Amazingly enough there doesn't seem to be any accidents.