Big yellow taxi

I thought public transport deserved its own blog post entirely. I have had a significant number of scary transport experiences and maintain that it’s probably better to travel like this.

The first and worst thing is the sheer volume of motorbikes. They come from every angle and when travelling at rush hour there are literally thousands. Don't even get me started on attempting to cross the road! I've had so many near misses because they think they can dodge you but this is seemingly not the case. At the market last week I was nearly in the middle of a head on collision with about ten motorbikes and a sutrama (small public bus). People on motorbikes don't where helmets which I find crazy as on the main road the other day I saw two people lying on the ground having come off their bikes. What's brilliant is as this is the main mode of transport because of the lack of proper roads for cars,  people use their bikes to transport all sorts of things: highlights include an entire crate of baguettes, 2 large portraits, 2 giant teddy bears, a tiny baby and some furniture. I don't understand how people can see over the front but it makes for good watching.

Taxis are just a hilarious experience. All taxis are yellow and circa 1990. They are constantly stopping when they see us because we are white and think we are incapable of walking. Last week we went in a taxi that definitely had at least one flat tire and we were dragging along the floor. It couldn't do anything in first gear then got stuck trying to do a 3 point turn in the middle of a dual carriageway because it couldn't start- this was a hilariously petrifying experience. The air is always black as all these taxis whiz around the city.We also went in one that clunked its way along with a broken engine, definitely quite the adventure- it's always pot luck to see which part of the car will be broken!

Public transport is equally fun and adventurous as we all found ourselves tightly packed into a green Sutrama. These should hold maybe 8 people but have the legal capacity to take about 20 people. You get a proper look at city life from here tho and last time we traveled with the cutest tiny baby and some religious elders. Very good for people watching. Some of the sutrama's are decorated with slogans and my favorite was one I saw in the countryside which was carrying lots on the roof and had no windows yet had "Limousine" across the side. If we hadn't have been going so fast it would have been such a good photo. What strikes me is innovation when travelling, there are always all sorts of things strapped high onto to roof. My favorite was a whole heard of goats.  This can also backfire however, because we saw a bus which was coming back from the market that had toppled over sending everything all over the road. (at least it wasn't animals) Maybe things would be better stored in the boot? It would be less interesting however!

Not sure how I managed an entire blog post about transport (boring), i'm going on a taxi/sutrama adventure later. Wish me luck!

Alice x