Taking a trip on a cyclo (a pushbike with a seat for an unspecified number of passengers and luggage - two people with minimal bags seems the sensible maximum but apparantly numbers are no obstacle) is a surreal experience amid the hectic traffic, blaring horns and frenetic ze-om (motorbikes), hawkers and taxis of Hanoi - doubly so in the dark. These composed (often elderly) gentlemen must have iron endurance to heave us silly westerners about - very impressive. Anyway, the whole experience is a bit like virtual reality... a flight simulator if you will. You see, feel and hear the traffic coming at you from multiple directions but are powerless to make any changes to your direction yourself (perhaps a roller coaster or scary ride is a more apt description); fortunately you wouldn't REALLY want any control anyway. The cyclo drivers (and surrounding traffic) seem to know exactly what to do to avoid collisions, and it seems to me (from my experience as a pedestrian here) that it is when WE start second guessing the system (is it a SYSTEM?) that things go wrong.
The only person who has almost killed us so far was an American tourist.
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