Day 40: Life’s This Game of Inches

Ready to move onto Cambodia and the sun, we left our nice but cold Homestay and charged forward to Hanoi. The road started off fast and fun, the scenery still lush and green. We passed the usual craziness, dogs being brutally stuffed into “too small” cages destined for a market, a group of street racers, careening around corners on their sport bikes, oblivious to the preciousness of life – theirs and ours.

After 100 km we hit the freeway, and traffic and chaos and suicidal drivers and murderous drivers. Another 120 km we hit high speed games of chicken, played between truck and scooter, scooter and scooter. Ahh Hanoi. How I missed thee and your crazy ways. Your stench, your lively buzz, your drive to kill me. Yes I missed thee.

When we left Hanoi we went from the streets of Old Quarter on a lazy, but busy Saturday to the crazy freeways in what felt like a few adrenaline filled minutes. Today we seemed to spend hours stuck in Sunday traffic, dodging completely unaware and oblivious drivers, playing games of chess at 80 km/hr with your life as the prize. Cars, trucks and scooters whizzing by from all directions, merely inches from a serious or fatal crash. I couldn’t help but think of the movie “Any Given Sunday” and the perfect metaphor for life and football and motorcycling in Hanoi.

“But, you only learn that when you start losin’ stuff. You find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game – life or football – the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it.”

I love Hanoi. It was good to be back.

After checking into the wonderful Serenity Diamond Hotel it was time to celebrate with a proper meal. Pizza and beer. That could only mean Pizza 4P’s. After several “Heart of Darkness” beers, a devine pizza loaded with cheese and “apple pie” pizza with ice cream, we were ready to tackle the streets of Hanoi and its wonderful Sunday market / street festival by foot. It’s not everyday you see a bunch of skinny Santa’s dancing to Gangnam Style, adults double Dutch skipping, kareoke in the streets (okay, I lied. We did see that everyday), street performances and other festivities that made us happy to be back in the modern world.