Vietnam Top Gear tour day 10 - Nghia Lo to Hanoi

cam44724

1 day ago

2 min read

Today was our last day on the bikes and I'll miss my little, under powered 150cc Chinese LIFAN cruiser. Even though the bike I started the tour on gave up the ghost and started making some nasty clunking noises a couple of days ago, they had another one ready for me to jump on without missing a beat.

Our first stop was at a timber veneer and plywood making factory (as with most of stops, it was just on the side of the road in a little village) and it was fascinating to see how the raw logs were stipped into thin sheets.

The last stop before we hit Hanoi was on the side of the freeway for a briefing and to get prepared for what was to come. No way were we prepared for Hanoi traffic - it is syncronised, choreographed, CHAOS. Scooters, cars, buses and trucks jostling for position, centimetres apart, elbow to elbow but it works - nobody gets cranky, nobody tries to block you out, it just flows. It was possibly the most amazing (and slightly intimidating) thing I've ever been in the middle of and somehow it was disappointing when we arrived at the depot and handed back the bikes.

Once we got back to the hotel and checked in we had some free time to wander around Hanoi, grab a well earned drink (or two) and soak in the wonderland that is Hanoi. Its impossible to describe - it really is one of those places you need to see for yourself;

- older women dancing by the lake, not a care in the world,

- younger girls, dressed in their finest, being snapped by pro photographers with lighting and kit - all for Instagram or Tiktok,

- men practicing tai-chi, slow and calm, oblivious to the hustle and bustle around them,

- ladies dressed in stunning gowns, walking back and forth across the road through traffic as their devoted partners snapped glamour shots,

- and cars, scooters, pushbikes, tuk-tuks, and every other possible sort of vehicle in a non-stop ballet of movement and noise.

Many more photos of Hanoi to come because you can't turn a corner without seeing something new and amazing.