That was the saying that our guide for the foodie tour told us, about how to cross streets in Hanoi. You have to walk with confidence, and not stop and know with fair certainty that the traffic will flow around you. Took a few days to get used to it. Definitely NOT for the faint of heart.
The truth of the matter is that the traffic is partly a symptom of an urban environment and definitely related to the density of humans. The front of the building is probably nondescript with a shop at the street level. But the back has terraces and is nicer.
This is the narrowest building in Hanoi. It is the 60 cm wide, essentially the width of the door plus a little extra. A family of 5 lives there, I am told.
As of 2023, the population of Vietnam was over 100,300,000, and the density is 300/km. Considering that there are large areas of rural farming and that this is a priority, that is even more impressive.
Hanoi is nearly 9 million and Saigon (in part due to annexing areas adjacent to the city this year) is 15 million. That is more than Mexico City (9 million) or New York (8.8 million). The country is densely populated. They retreat behind building facades to find quiet. And families also live multigenerationally.
The part that we also noted is that there are extremely few car accidents and somehow it all flows.
A lot to absorb, think about…
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