The biggest adrenaline rush today comes in between activities, in between meals, and in between destinations. It is the literally about the journey. The chaos that is the streets of the old quarter in Hanoi give us a new found appreciation for traffic lights and walk signals. Sidewalks are crammed with scooters so that’s not an option, intersections have limited to no rules, and the road is filled with motorbikes, taxis, bicycles, and pedestrians all pretending not to notice the other. The trick: walk slowly and consistently across, while also pretending not to notice anyone else so that they won’t assume you’ll stop. The good news is that after practicing this a couple dozen times, I dare say you do start to get the hang of it. And eventually, we even start to appreciate the craziness that exists atop each of these scooters – babies without helmets, people riding every which way, three or four people to a bike, enormously towering cargo loads, and more.
