Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Rickshas, Motorcycles and Honking...oh my

Hello blogging friends. I write this post from Chennai, India. Most of you are cozy in your beds I am sure while we are heading to our 1:00 p.m. lunch (they eat lunch and dinner late in India).

So far I love this country...granted I have not seen much of it but the parts I have seen and the people I have met are great! Now, I could probably do without such spicy food and would love to have a little different bathroom situation but all in all I'm flexible and making it work.

Traffic here is crazy. It's not that there is so much traffic...it's the way it moves. There are some lines on some roads but otherwise cars just drive back and forth, often not necessarily staying on there side of the road (which is the left side here). Motorcycles weave through where ever they can and rickshas are everywhere. It doesn't feel unsafe (most of the time) just so dis-organized. I think the traffic here has actually made the drivers more defensive than in the U.S. People walk right through the traffic and right down busy roads and they trust that the traffic will go around them, and it does.

They also do a bit of honking here (I'm being sarcastic it is crazy and all day long). It's not meant to be a mean thing or to show annoyance and anger (like it often is in the U.S.) it's just a 'hey people I'm right next to you, I'm here don't veer to the right to quickly'. So everyone is honking to let everyone else know where they are.

Maybe I'll try riding on the back of a motorcycle before this trip is over.

That's the traffic report for the day. I'll report back on other India adventures later.