Check her out. Ain't she sweet? That's my new bad ass ride. Okay, I know what you're thinking and yes, she is a bicycle.One of my favorite things about living in Hanoi has always been riding around on a motorbike. However, in Japan I started to ride everywhere on a bicycle and really enjoyed it. Since Huyen has a motorbike I thought that the sensible thing to do was to get a bicycle and to share her motorbike.
Now a few people might be saying, "Ben, didn't you say that you think the most dangerous form of transportation in Hanoi was a bicycle?" Well, yes, I did say that countless times last year. However, after riding around for a couple of weeks I'm going to retract that statement. The fact is that all forms of transportation in Hanoi are dangerous. The one safer thing about a bicycle is that I'm now much taller than motorbikes. I can see over the traffic and people can see me. Now the problem with the bicycle is that it is silent. Most people in Vietnam drive with their ears and not with their eyes. In fact, many people don't have side view mirrors so they only know that someone is approaching when the person behind them honks. I've been doing A LOT of bell ringing with my bike. Oh, yeah, one other disadvantage: I've been sweating a lot on the bicycle...and it is winter now.
