Wednesday, December 22, 2010

DrivingFunInTimorLeste


Doug and I have the world covered when it comes to driving. I drive in countries that drive on the right and he drives in countries that drive on the left. Thank goodness it was his turn to drive because the right/left rule may be the only driving rule in the country. There are no drivers licenses, auto insurance, or marked lanes. It is basically a free for all. After several weeks we did see a few traffic signs,a few traffic lights, and a few signs with road names. It is the wild west of driving. The round-abouts (traffic circles) do tend to move in a clock-wise direction - but don't count on it!. At any time you will see motorbikes zooming into microscopic places and dogs, chickens, pigs, and goats taking their time wandering through the busiest traffic. My biggest surprise was seeing groups of people sitting on the side of the highway with traffic passing within inches of their rear ends (a good way to get rid of those extra pounds).Dili has the best roads in the country which means that most are paved in most places. The challenge is unmarked holes big enough to swallow a Volkswagon. Doug was remarkable at memorizing where the holes were - a huge survival skill. One day we saw a massive hole marked with a pile of stones, but the stones were gone the next day, even though the hole was even larger. A chair was placed in the road over another huge hole to warn motorists! Perhaps our greatest contribution could be to take traffic cones with us on our next trip!!! PS The photo is a bus with a goat tied to the top!

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