Driving here is simply insanity. The streets are jammed. You need many appendages – at least one hand to steer, one hand for the horn, one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the gas – but most cars have standard transmissions.

Red lights, lane markings, and one-way signs are little more than suggestions – we saw them violated a dozen times every 30 seconds. Two four lane roads intersect without a traffic light!!

Envision a complex machine with many intermeshing gears – nobody stops, cars, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles, little children and elderly ladies crossing the same intersection alone seem to blend into everything else, everybody keeps moving, and nobody crashes. It’s a clear (Asian) indication that many people can live together, minimizing their own personal agendas, and all share space and time equitably. Non-Asian drivers wouldn’t drive here for 10 minutes without an accident.
We tried to take a picture that would capture this experience, but could not - mostly because we had our eyes shut tight!

So, of course, what do we do in the middle of all this chaos, take a cyclo ride (see left) amidst motorcycles and cars whizzing by!