The Streets of Hanoi in Black and White

The streets of Hanoi, Vietnam are usually bustling with motorcycles, bicycles, small cars and people walking in those distinct conical hats which they call “non la” or leaf hat. I was fascinated with this fact when I went to Vietnam a couple of weeks back, and so here is an experimental collection of photos showing these elements in black and white.

The first few photos were taken right outside of our hotel, An Hung Hotel along Ngo Gac street, in the early morning.

Fresh flowers for sale.

Bote-Dyaryo, Vietnam style.

Here the vegetable market walks.

It’s as busy as it gets.

Y U TAKE MY PHOTO?

In Vietnam, almost every kind of person can ride a bike – young, old, man, woman, family, a group of friends… Here’s proof.

In my mind, these girls are sisters on an electric bicycle.

Granma on a bike, riding with everybody else.

Group of boyfriends.

This city is full of bikers, and I’m not too surprised. Our tour guide said cars have 200% tax in Vietnam, and 80% of car companies don’t accept Vietnamese Dong as payment – only USD.

Their roads are not made for big cars, and so are their parking lots.

The Vietnamese are tremendous space savers – take a look at their buildings. They’re all small and high. This is the same all throughout Hanoi. Perhaps lots are also quite expensive?

I also noticed that they have only one traffic rule that everybody follows. That rule is, “What traffic rule?!”. Look left and right five million times before you cross. Them motorcycles will just honk at you when you’re in the middle of the road.

I’ve also taken the liberty to watch random photos of people at the park.

And vendors.

A tourist with a vendor.

More.

And lastly, I am mildly obliged to post a photo with myself in it.

Xin Chao! Mai mot gap lai!

(Goodbye! We’ll meet again soon!)

 

Photos taken by either a basic Nikon SLR or an iPhone 4S.