From the book "Eat, Pray, Love":
"There are no great distances...on an island the size of Delaware. And the "highways" are horrible, made surreally dangerous by the dense, mad prevalence of Bali's version of the American family minivan -- a small motorcycle with five people crowded on it, the father driving with one hand while holding the newborn infant with the other (football-like) while Mom sits sidesaddle behind him in her tight sarong with a basket balanced on her head, encouraging her twin toddlers not to fall 0ff the speeding motorbike, which is probably traveling on the wrong side of the road and has no headlight. Helmets are rarely worn but are frequently -- and I never did find out why -- carried. Imagines scores of these heavily-laden motorcycles, all speeding recklessly, all weaving and doging across each other like some kind of crazed motorized maypole dance, and you have life on the Balinese highways. I don't know why every single Balinese person hasn't been killed already in a road accident."
The above isn't much of an exaggeration, and must be seen to be believed. And the cars and trucks don't seem to have much use for lanes and other formalities, either.
But, Bali and the Balinese are just wonderful.
"There are no great distances...on an island the size of Delaware. And the "highways" are horrible, made surreally dangerous by the dense, mad prevalence of Bali's version of the American family minivan -- a small motorcycle with five people crowded on it, the father driving with one hand while holding the newborn infant with the other (football-like) while Mom sits sidesaddle behind him in her tight sarong with a basket balanced on her head, encouraging her twin toddlers not to fall 0ff the speeding motorbike, which is probably traveling on the wrong side of the road and has no headlight. Helmets are rarely worn but are frequently -- and I never did find out why -- carried. Imagines scores of these heavily-laden motorcycles, all speeding recklessly, all weaving and doging across each other like some kind of crazed motorized maypole dance, and you have life on the Balinese highways. I don't know why every single Balinese person hasn't been killed already in a road accident."
The above isn't much of an exaggeration, and must be seen to be believed. And the cars and trucks don't seem to have much use for lanes and other formalities, either.
But, Bali and the Balinese are just wonderful.
