Motorbikes, like a game

Riding around on a motorbike in Vietnam was truly fun. I started renting a bike one afternoon in Hoi An and had solitary rides through rice patties and became accustomed to riding in the town with many pedestrians and other motorbikes. The unwritten rule, I quickly understood, was just don't hit anything in front of you, and don't worry about anything hitting you. In this way, you don't stop at intersections, and you don't go so fast that you can't stop. Whatever you do, never stop. This causes chaos as everyone is watching you and where you are going, and if you stop and go, it is impossible to tell, and intersections get clogged.

When I got back to Hanoi, I once again rented a motorbike and realized there were sevral levels to this game. Level one, country side. Level 2, small town. Level 3, big city with cars. Level 4, trying to navigate using a map and reading road signs. Level 5, same as level 4 but with rain. Level 6, in darkness. I only made it to level 6, the later levels include more and more passengers, higher speeds, etc....

It was challenging and always an adventure. The system actually works quite well. I did see a guy in front of me get run over by a car. he was thrown, but realized he did cut the car off, so he picked up his motorbike, his passenger checked all his limbs, and they got out of the street. I guess there is really only one kind of game over.