Bits and pieces...
* A letter from Hanoi: Short letter-article in the Irish Times today -- subscription only I'm afraid -- on Hanoi. Just a quick whirl through life at large and a chunk of history. One thing jarred.. "To a continual chorus of get-out-of-my-way toots, vehicles (mostly Honda scooters, buy shares now) weave in and out, overtake, intersect, in a world with no apparent traffic code and only the occasional set of lights to slow the mighty stream.

All this is conducted with an impassive calm, perhaps born of the prevailing Buddhism. Road rage is not Vietnamese. The southeast Asian cultural norm of never displaying anger could be the reason."

That's of course until someone really loses it and an almighty mill breaks out. That idea of the Asian "norm of never losing your cool" is utter shite. Fairly true for a long time that the majority of people remained admirably calm in chaotic traffic, but sadly methinks that's on the wane... people do lose the rag here, and when they do, stand back, or run.

In Dublin there's a healthy amount of verbal abuse for sure. People muttering in their cars to themselves about how everyone else on the road is a total langer. Of course, living here, when I'm back in Dublin the streets, in my eyes, are like a scene out of 28 Days Later or I Am Legend ... empty, quiet, deserted. The traffic is orderly, everyone stops at red lights, indicates, pulls up outside yellow boxes, and so forth, ... now that's what I call impassive calm, born from the "prevailing Catholicism..." no doubt...




* Snakes on a plane, dude: One tonne of snakes on a Vietnam Airlines flight seized... – one tonne? PUN ALERT: However did they slip through check in...
* Buoc day di: Helmets on, straps open... not encouraging numbers on head injuries post-wear-a-helmet-or-else law. I sense a return for Summertime Ryan, the Kickstand monitor of yesteryear with a comeback campaign to help people strap up...