Skin just showing in this photo as her gloved hand emerges. Vietnamese woman are rightly careful about exposure to the tropical sun - not always remembering that if such a masked figure waves at you, you may not be able to recognise the person!
Ha Noi’s traffic can be daunting. Never mind the 1,000 year history, never mind the endless cultural assets or the tens of thousands of fascinating shops or the lakes and mile wide river, it is the traffic that is remembered. Older residents also remember the stately bicycles of the post-war years, quietly weaving along, those gave way to the motor cycles at the beginning of this century, with the sense of mass hordes on the move, and now, today, it is the cars - mostly standing still in a sort of locked confusion. This, and the next
page of Picture Posting, come from the middle period when the motorcycle was king. Hopefully, the many video clips convey something of the pleasure motorcycling in Ha Noi gave. This page is mostly about people, the next, forlornly, attempts to introduce the seething traffic from a moving vehicle.
Mask Parade. Not the total covering seen above, but marks, against the fume laden air, were common, a decade before Covid - helmets
were less common
While many western pedestrians seek help if venturing on to the roads, there are some, such as this man, who embrace the dance of the traffic - at least in quieter streets
Although many photos testify to the multi occupancy of motorbikes, see for example the page on
Curious Cargoes,
three up on a pedal cycle is rarer
Traditionally men drove and women pillioned, but not always
A commoner site, in busy traffic or country byways, was the stately progress of women and goods, attempting to avoid exertion in the heat
Here a short skirt allows a welcome draft, a pleasure...
...lost to those, not a few, who choose side saddle
Children in the traffic - some sense of (false) protection riding in front...
...whereas being in a sandwich could no doubt offer some security...
...but there can be little defence for clinging on the back like this
Fourteen year olds can legally drive smaller motorbikes, and do. Schools often seem swamped by vast crowds of pupils coming and going on their machines. Here school boys ride along chatting with heavy loads of books on their backs, and light loads, in these pre-helmet days, on their hair
Motorbike taxi drivers park up for a chat. Every street corner offers this accessible fast way to getting around a densely populated city
Sometimes the motorbikes come to rest - like this 'in serried ranks assembled'
A woman trying to cross the traffic. No, Vietnamese is written left to right like English - this was taken in a mirror
To bring that last picture to life a little. A video clip of a man crossing the road. He makes good progress till near the end - then a quick skip out the way of a motorbike
Here watching waves of traffic. At 14 seconds look at the right edge to see three boys on a motorbike coming into the picture doing a wheelie; towards the end, a pedestrian ventures into the road
Disappearing into the moving traffic, a woman is facing her way down the tide, together with a steady pace this is an important part of success
The back of a traffic policeman, a traffic warden to the left, and a discreet army guy to the right, all busy enforcing the law of the day before:
Motorcyclists must wear helmets Contrast this video clip which was taken one week earlier, with the picture on the left, you can count the helmets amongst these riders waiting for the traffic lights to change. Hân is deflecting attention from this tall westerner by filming while standing on the crash barrier Above, an indulgently long view of a major intersection in west central Hà Nội, traffic lights control waves of vehicles. The length allows you to see the uncontrolled pedestrians who make it across the arena. One from the start of the clip sets off from the centre base of the image, and reaches safety after 22 seconds; the other appears from the trees at the right at about 42 seconds and seems, at around 56 seconds, to be swallowed up! These photographs were taken in 2007, then two wheels outnumbered cars, and made for a most elegant dance.
Above, a still from such a dance.
After the noise and movement of those clips, a peaceful street at dawn. This same street can be seen on the next page of Picture Posting in its crowded daytime state. Above the video clips were taken from a stationary point. The following page attempts to give an idea of the immense pleasure there was, at that time, of riding around on a motorbike in central Hà Nội
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting
page continues the story of traffic in Hà Nội with more videos, mostly taken from within the traffic.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Mysterious Mystical'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
The last page of this section had photos of Ruber's Law in southern Scotland
...guide to this site