More on driving...

I realize I spend a lot of time talking about driving in all of these countries we visit. We honestly don’t realize how good we have it until we start seeing what other people live with all of their lives! It’s honestly unreal.
To begin with, they don’t have the tire-width ditches that are found in Japan…but they do have huge ones, usually covered with a walkway, sometimes not, and generally full of trash (I also take back what I said about being clean. It really depends on where you are.) Remember…we’re in the tropics…includes tropical rains… even more than the storms in Japan bring… now, they have great ditches designed for carrying away lots of water but... they don’t work because they’re full of... right, you’ve got it - Trash!!! The streets are always flooded when it rains (bad for driving AND walking). Let me tell you, it rains A LOT in the rainy season (might have something to do with the name, maybe they should rename the season). I sometimes thought that the car/boat thing would have worked well here.
The drivers are crazy. If you want to go somewhere, honk your horn and go. The laws are different in Bali. If someone pulls out in front of you, it’s YOUR job to stop. If you hit them, it’s your fault. If your gaijin, it’s your fault. If they hit you, it’s your fault. Thankfully the roads are so awful that everyone has to drive pretty slowly. I think about 50 km/hr (roughly 30mph) was about the fastest we ever got up to. Now, add some motorcycles/scooters to the mix. They go WHEREVER they want to. If you leave a 5 inch gap between you and the car in front or on the side, they go through it. At every intersection they all weave up to the front of the line then start out en-mass!!! It’s quite a sight to see. Add the water they’re dodging and you have quite a field of bikes to dodge.
They also have interesting roads. I don’t know why, but u-turns are built into the system all over the place. It’s one of those things about going when you want to – if you’re on the main road you wait forever for the cars doing the u-turns. You learn NOT to be in the middle lane unless you’re wanting to make a u-turn yourself.
Thankfully, once you’re out of the main towns, the driving becomes much easier and closer to normal. We took off to Candidasa, a delightful town, off the beaten track, away from the tons of tourists making the scene on the beaches of Bali. Granted, there weren’t as many shops to visit or bars to go to or people wanting to sell you something, anything, as you walked along the beach but somehow we managed to find plenty to keep us busy.
And the picture...it's a 2 lane street.....