I'm pretty sure that is what most driver's here think ALL.THE.TIME.
- Pedestrian crossing the street: "You must be crazy!"
- Bus trying to squeeze into a space between cars the size of a Smart car: "You must be crazy!"
- Car driving the wrong way: "You must be crazy! And driving some American..."
I want you to take a look at this image and pay close attention to the areas in red.
What you are looking at is the Google Maps recommended route from my hotel to my office. It's the route I have been taking daily for the last week. On Google Maps it says it's about 18km but in reality it's probably 10 since my driver's cut corners (literally and figuratively) every chance they get.
Back to those red areas. Since cars drive on the left here, right turns from the left lane are too difficult to manage. It would create an even worse traffic jam than normal. So there is not a right turn from onto the street I need to be on going from the hotel to the office. You have to make a left turn, go down a few kilometers, then turn around.
BAH! Nonsense.
This is a enlarge image of that intersection and what my driver does. He just cuts over into the OPPOSITE SIDE, driving against traffic. Cars, motorcycles, buses all driving head on at us, then cuts over to enter the onramp going the other way.
The first time I this happened, I was sure we were going to die. The next few, I just hang on for the ride. Today traffic was horrendous. It took us probably 10 minutes just to clear this intersection. So the whole time we are slowly moving against traffic, cars and buses swerving around us, my driver is casually telling me about his brother in Washington DC and his sister in Virginia all the while cursing at the other drivers for not letting him through.
He's seriously my favorite person in the whole world.
- Pedestrian crossing the street: "You must be crazy!"
- Bus trying to squeeze into a space between cars the size of a Smart car: "You must be crazy!"
- Car driving the wrong way: "You must be crazy! And driving some American..."
I want you to take a look at this image and pay close attention to the areas in red.
What you are looking at is the Google Maps recommended route from my hotel to my office. It's the route I have been taking daily for the last week. On Google Maps it says it's about 18km but in reality it's probably 10 since my driver's cut corners (literally and figuratively) every chance they get.
Back to those red areas. Since cars drive on the left here, right turns from the left lane are too difficult to manage. It would create an even worse traffic jam than normal. So there is not a right turn from onto the street I need to be on going from the hotel to the office. You have to make a left turn, go down a few kilometers, then turn around.
BAH! Nonsense.
This is a enlarge image of that intersection and what my driver does. He just cuts over into the OPPOSITE SIDE, driving against traffic. Cars, motorcycles, buses all driving head on at us, then cuts over to enter the onramp going the other way.
The first time I this happened, I was sure we were going to die. The next few, I just hang on for the ride. Today traffic was horrendous. It took us probably 10 minutes just to clear this intersection. So the whole time we are slowly moving against traffic, cars and buses swerving around us, my driver is casually telling me about his brother in Washington DC and his sister in Virginia all the while cursing at the other drivers for not letting him through.
He's seriously my favorite person in the whole world.
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