Oy! The taxi was an adventure in itself. The first leg from the airport through the highways was boring, as expected. Things became less usual as we approached the actual city. I felt I was part of a James Bond car pursuit scene. The taxi driver, a good-natured lady, took the off ramp on the main artery to get into the city. I was wondering why there were pedestrians walking along the shoulder? A few seconds later a dozen vehicles came towards us in the wrong direction of a one way ramp. As we inched closer to the end of the ramp the vehicles ahead of us were making U-Turns back down the cloverleaf off ramp we just went up! So, the driver surmised there must be an accident and decides to follow the lead cars. The driver managed to get back onto the merge lane of the exit. Instead of following traffic the driver decides to go the wrong way through the main highway a few hundred feet to take the next exit. Thus, we avoided all the congestion at the risk of multiple head-on collisions! On the second off ramp we pass another accident that had just occurred. It was a van that overturned onto its side. The driver said the police only patrol the city roads. There's a special "accident" hotline for highway security.
The 2 or so miles to the hotel was uneventful. That is, except for the several near collisions with pedestrians and motorbikes.
My wife reminded me that this driver is "good" but not as "good" as the taxi driver in Beijing last year. The Beijing driver held a cigarette in his left hand. He was driving and operating a manual transmission with his right hand navigating rush hour traffic.
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