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2/1/2024
When does traffic become like the weather?…
Having little else to talk about today, I thought I'd return to traffic.
Typically at the major intersections in Hanoi you will see two types of policemen. One dressed in a tan uniform wearing a tan hat holding a short white baton and one dressed in a green uniform with a green hat wearing a pistol.
The first is a traffic policeman whose job it is to keep traffic flowing and make sure people stop for red lights (for the most part anyway). The other is a regular police officer who is there in case there is an accident or someone needs to be arrested.
So in the picture below…I was walking along the street and traffic was stopped dead. By the way, I've mentioned before that “tắc đường” means traffic jam. In actuality, my Vietnamese language teacher Nga informs me that it actually means tắc (stuck) đường (road), which pretty much described the traffic on this side road in the picture.
If you look closely at the picture below, just right of center, next to the black car, you will see a police officer in the midst of things. He pulled up in the middle of traffic (while I was standing there trying to figure out how I was going to cross the road) stopped his black car in the middle of the road, got out, and started directing traffic.
Believe it or not, within 5 minutes he had the road "unstuck" got back into his vehicle and we all went about our merry way!
The small potted plants on the sidewalk are kumquat trees. It's the days before Tet Holiday and everyone is buying their Kumquat trees, cherry blossom branches and orchids in preparation.
NOVEMBER p.2, p.3, p.4, p.5, p.6, p.7