D-Day on the Freeway

One more entry for today before sign off. Let's talk traffic.

In Seattle, traffic is speed up to 20, slow down to 5, sit still for five minutes and repeat until you get past the minivan in the fast lane.

Now, imagine taxis, private cars, buses, pedicabs, bicycles, pedestrians, hand-cart venders, police cars all moving at once, in four directions, at full speed honking the horn at every opportunity. Got it? No, you don't.

Here, pedestrians simply cross when and where they want. The double yellow lines are suggestions, not laws. Red lights? You gotta be kidding! Tonite's taxi ride to the Snow Land Restaurant in Lhasa, makes the Twirler at Six Flags look like a merry-go-round. Picture this: cab driver is holding cell phone with one hand and leaning on the horn with the other. Traffic slows; cab does not. Across the yellow line we go, into a sea of headlights. The headlights represent cars going the opposite direction, doing precisely what our cabby is doing. Honk!! One driver or the other has to swerve to avert disaster. Ah yes, and there is the young lady with the three small kids crossing the street directly in the cross-hairs of both cars. Honk! The lady stops, the cars miss her and her brood by inches.

Relief? Not a chance. Here comes the wheel cart. Remember, this at night. Farmer John is coming right down the center line. Cab slaloms around him, almost up onto the sidewalk where pedestrians dive out of the way. I fill my pants.

Well, back at the hotel now for a nice night's sleep. After the adrenalin rush dissipates. And back on the highways tomorrow.

Hope we see all of you again someday.

Adios