Thursday, October 26, 2006

Hanoi's Pavement

The pavement is for walking and parking in some places but if you come to Viet Nam, the pavement is a place for people to do business even it's illegal.

Street food

Wandering around Hanoi from morning till evening, you can try all types of good cheap food. Pho- noodle soup with chicken, beef or with organs, sweets, fruit and others along the streets of the old quarter or from people walking around. Both are great. I always eat at Lang Ong street where they sell best street noodle soup.

Cafe Hanoi

Coffee on the pavement is the most popular in Hanoi and customers sit on small low plastic chairs or wooden chairs and they use those small chairs as tables. These places are also the most popular places in Hanoi to hear all the lastest news, gossip or even the secret news from elsewhere in the world but do not trust what you hear with 100% accuracy.

Hair cut

The pavement is not only for parking and walking, but it is a place for car washing, pumping and selling petrol. You can also have a hair-do.

Street  business

Unfortunately, the pavement is also a public toilet where people stop for a quick pee. Even people who drive a very expensive car or ladies who sell fruit on the street and sometimes parents help their baby to have a pee.

Pavement Hanoi

The pavement and middle of the street become one especially in the peak hours when people drive their motorbikes and bicycles like crazy on the pavement and pedestrians have to walk in the middle of the street instead of walking along the pavement.

Hanoi by night

In the evenings the pavement is a public park for lovers, young or old, a whisper for afew minutes then they go away together. The pavement is also a five star hotel for the homeless and beggars, giving them somewhere to dream about their future. If you walk around on hot days you can see lots of people sleeping along the pavements after lunch.

Hoa Hanoi

Markets on the pavement are also common where lots of small stalls of vegetables or some people just selling a few pieces of vegetable. Second hand clothes also very popular and can be seen along the streets where the sellers hang their stuff against the wall.

Motorbikes

Anyway, that's just some examples about the crazy stuff that happens everyday in Hanoi. Even though the police try to stop them by giving fines, they are not very effective. And when someone shouts out loud that the police are coming, you will see so many people running up and down, running around trying to hide all of their stuff inside a house or up an alley before running away from thepolice. BUT the situation will return to the same when the police are gone. This is a very funny incident to watch, I promise!

11 comments:

o jardineiro said...

Hi, in last may i was in Hanoi. fantastic city. very crazy! your blog is cool! regards from Portugal!

Anonymous said...

great photos,
Occasional visitor to this blog,
I was wondering do people on these pavements ever wonder about the little pollution that adds up on the street, is it a greater concern?
Are there any enforcement like they have in Singapore for littering?
I can understand earning a living and all, but i litter, you litter and the next 5 street business that does this do add up.

just curious...

BionicBuddha said...

I like the idea of the barber business on the pavement...great idea!!



www.bionicbuddha.com

FooDcrazEE said...

u r really making me missing VN bro.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

I spent the night looking at your flicr pictures and they are just beautiful.

Anonymous said...

I like the photos as well!

Here, it is the same with people scrambling away when the police come (since they're doing illegal hawking as well)

junebee said...

Very busy places. Not at all like pavements in the U.S. where people hurriedly walk from one place to another.

The outdoor coffee cafe looks great.

Thuy said...

Junebee, people in the US don't walk (or do anything) on the pavement - they get in their big house and get in their big SUV that was parked in their 3-car garage and drive.
Vietnamese God, that red-moped looks expensive. What kind of job do people have in order to afford a moped like that?

Van Cong Tu said...

Hi all, thanks for your all comments again.

Thuy, it costs from $5000 to $7000 and most people who drive it are rich.

o jardineiro, thanks for coming and discovering our countries and glad to know that you had a good time.

Anonymous, the street are cleaned on a regular basis.

Invertir en Oro said...

Very busy places. Not at all like pavements in the U.S. where people hurriedly walk from one place to another.

xl pharmacy said...

Vietnam is the strangest place I've ever visit in my whole life!