On The Streets

The city of Hanoi is progressing at a really slow pace, in stark contrast with the seemingly increasing wealth of a percentage of the citizens. I haven't spent enough time here to make a concrete assessment, but I'm not sure I care to. I'm not charmed by the city.

Driving across the cities for our meetings, invariably, we're always tangled up in not just the morning and evening traffic jams, but also the lunchtime jams. ARRRGH. I'm a little boggled at the cars on the roads. I can't wrap my head around what I'm seeing versus the facts on paper. There's the one distinctive red Merc SLK which zips around town quite a bit. There're plenty of Porsche Cayennes, BMW X5s and Lexus-es. They can't all be the same few, and mind you, not driven by expats, but owned by locals.

Still, the number of motorcycles is a menace on the narrow streets and roads which haven't kept up with the rising social developments and consumer demands. I can't even imagine how there is any semblance of urban management in the city centre, which houses the most chaotic roads frequently accessed by travellers and business people.

The city is celebrating its 1000th year on 10 October 2010. It seems content to keep its way of life. Its dated infrastructure seems to be almost bursting at its seams. The clearest indication of urban development is found in its 8 industrial parks and a good 5 more that will complete construction soon, and many more smaller scale versions mushrooming.

It's not all bad. Sometimes, another city of skyscrapers is what we don't need more of. If Hanoi is happy to keep its charms, that perhaps it will be its strong point yet. Then, certain aspects and challenges of urban management must be dealt with rather than have the city dwellers resign to an inconvenient way of life.