It happened again, I wanted to take a left turn at the red light. Having the engine off, watching the count-down of the red light, I missed the left turn crowd again, which gets a head-start at 6 seconds before green, rolling off trying to cross over, before the on-coming traffic (starting at 3 seconds before green) – instead, I was with the 3 seconds before green crowd going forward, making cutting through the on-coming traffic almost impossible.

(video will follow soon ….)

A few more rules that are important, when driving a motorbike in Hanoi: watch out for motorbikes driving in the wrong lane coming towards you, watch for people crossing, especially old ladies and moms with little babies in their strollers, pay attention to cars going in reverse in your lane or pulling out a small alley, make sure you watch perpendicular motorbike traffic that crosses, watch for pot holes, and if you are in the La Thanh street, watch out for long pipes being extruded from shops towards the center lane of the street that would just about poke you in your head. Also pay close attention to the honking, because it could mean someone is changing course.