Nerves of steel

Most of the traffic in Hanoi is of the two wheeled variety. There is a weird chaotic order to the way the traffic flows.
No one seems to observe the traffic lights, or stay on their side of the road. The best strategy for the pedestrian is to think like a tortoise and move at a slow and steady pace. The motorbikes are pretty good at changing course to avoid skittling pedestrians.
If you wait on the footpath for a break in the traffic, you'll go nowhere. If you try to dart between oncoming motorbikes, you'll get run over.

Walking out into a sea of motorbikes with the odd bus and car thrown in for extra danger requires nerves of steel - still, I haven't seen any road fatalities yet.

By November last year, about 162,850 cars, 1.5 million motorbikes and 1 million bicycles were running on Hanoi streets. The number of cars and motorbikes has been increasing by 12-15 per cent a year. Over 60 per cent of Hanoi residents use motorbikes as their main means of transport, and 5.8 per cent go by car, while only 19.6 per cent opt for the bus.

Personally, I'm on the bus.