I went out for a drive over Long Bien bridge and into the countryside on the other side. Once crossing the bridge it doesn't take long to start seeing bits of countryside in the city:

The road follows the river on the left and the city on the right, until the buildings start to fade out and fields appear.

When the sun started setting, I turned around and headed back into the city, and sadly that was where it all went wrong. I ended up sucked onto a bridge out to Bac Ninh and had to drive for about 30km before I could turn around and head back into Hanoi. I couldn't find my way back to the river road so instead I had to drive through Long Bien district, on some of the busiest roads in Hanoi on a crazy busy Saturday night. Not such a great end to the day!

Pics here