I'd been warned about the traffic in Hanoi but it's something you have to experience for yourself. And by "experience" I mean run screaming from. My second day here I walked for that felt like two miles on the same side of the road without turning until I ran out of road. I was going out for water and even though I saw a place that might have sold the big jugs I was looking for, I still refused to cross the street. It scares the bejesus out of me for a good reason--these drivers are totally insane. They weave in and out of each other, turn without warning, and seem to follow instinctual driving rules rather than actual ones. It's like watching bees in a hive. A hive does not have traffic lights or lanes, and yet they all seem to know where they are going without colliding into each other. One guy in our group showed us how it's done the first day. You just walk. That's what he said. I also find it helpful not to look. You find a small opening in-between motorbikes, do not cross in front of buses or cars, and walk straight ahead. The bikes swerve around you with inches to spare. Today a fellow teacher stood next to me and started chanting "just go, just go, just go," took my hand, and together we stepped off the sidewalk and walked blindly into traffic across. Yes, I need a hand to hold. When it comes to crossing the street here the foreigners have the skills of a toddler (me included). So yeah, I want you to hold my hand when we cross the street and read me a bedtime story before I go to bed (no seriously, as soon as my phone is set up I want my stories, dammit). At least all of us English Teaching Assistants are learning this together. The real scary part comes after we are separated and must fend for ourselves, or at least learn how to hold our own hands.
