Sidewalks as restaurants and cafes
In Hanoi Old Quarters, the sidewalks are often turned into parking lots for motorbikes, food stalls, and cafรฉโs plastic stools, leaving pedestrians no choice but to navigate the narrow streets alongside motorcycles, testing each otherโs boundaries.ย Some say Hanoians’ lifestyle is heavily influenced by French, chilled and slower paced, which is why a lot of people hang out at outdoor cafe along the sidewalk, along the west lake riverside.
Streets packed by cars, motorcycles and pedestrians
If you follow the traffic lights, or if you look left and right watching out for the motorcycles, you will never be able to cross the streets. Hanoians almost blend in with their motorcycles and weave through narrow alleyways like professional athletes.
Street food vendors and their moving “castles”
If you find something interesting within reasonable price range, bring out your cash and get them right on the spot! The vendors may no longer be there the next time you walk by the same spot!
Hanoians’ daily lives
You can visually see how Hanoians live their life by just walking around Hanoi, they drink, eat, hangout at street stands, they get haircut at the old style barber who just need a mirror, a chair and a pair of scissor, they go grocery at open marketplace right after work.
