Chaotic Order
The first time I sat in a tuk tuk, I did not realize what a ride it would be. Bumpy and uneven roads, vehicles driving on the oncoming traffic lane before swerving/ changing back to their their lanes at the very last minute, turning left onto oncoming traffic, all the honking and dust... I clung to the handlebars, afraid that I was going to get hit or fall out when we went over another bump.
Yet, by the end of the trip, I realized that despite all the chaos, I had never witnessed an accident, and that I was in no danger of falling out of the tuk tuk. I marveled at the traffic system because as dysfunctional as it sounds, it works!
I don't know how or why it works, but here are two things I observed that I believe helps the situation:
1) They drive slow there. The fastest I saw my tour bus drive was on a deserted road in Angkor, and I believe he was only going maybe, 40mph/ 64kmph. Maybe it's the slower pace of life? Their vehicles are just older with less engine power? Tuk tuks are heavy so how fast can the motorcycle pulling it drive? I don't know. Whatever the reason, the slower speeds means that they can brake faster and avoid collisions better.
2) They are more willing to give way and move on. We once asked the tuk tuk driver to drop us at a particular street, and thought that he would drive to a safe parking spot for us to alight. Not so. He stopped the tuk tuk at the corner of a busy intersection in front of the street we wanted to go to. We looked behind and saw a whole pile of vehicles, waiting for the tuk tuk to move. When it became apparent that he was parking there for us, the drivers behind us simply went around the tuk tuk and moved on. No honking (maybe one?) or swearing. Just "Look, I'm not going to bother arguing with you. I'm just going to move on."
Of course, traffic laws are in place for a reason, but wouldn't it be nice if sometimes we adopted their attitude, and just gave way a little more? Some small inconveniences are not worth fighting over.
And now, one of my favorite pictures:
 |
| Leaving church to go home |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting on my posts- really appreciate it! I apologize in advance if blogger deletes your comments- I have no idea why it does so but please post your comment again. Thanks!