Week 12
A: Vietnam...
...where the hooter is king.
The
bigger your honk, the more kudos you have on the road. The more authority you have, the more right of way
you have. The sound of your honk demands road respect. In Vietnamese this means: "Get out of the way, I’m coming!!"
So
busses and lorries honk the loudest, and have the right of way, while mopeds
just need to scamper or be trampled. A great system that just works! Which
brings me to crossing the road in a moped metropolis such as Hanoi. At the lack
of a hooter, lowly pedestrians rely on total trust in your fellow human beings. You step off the curb and a mass of mopeds part before you like the Red Sea
ahead of the Israelites, a real everyday miracle! So we started of in Hanoi,
learning to love the busy chaos that is modern Vietnam. Coffee shops galore,
bakeries, and delicious street food, smells, smiles and the buzz of tooting
mopeds, all mingling into a tasty soup for the senses.
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