We are heavily reliant on car transportation in most of the US. This is especially true in rural areas where most of us can’t imagine not owning a vehicle. This is not the norm in most of the world, especially in third world countries like SE Asia, where one is considered wealthy if they own a vehicle. Maintaining a car is also cost prohibitive and inconvenient for many living in densely populated urban areas where parking space comes at a premium and traffic jams are unbearable. This is also true in many eastern cities in the US where folks rely on public transportation. The adequacy and reliability of train and bus transportation is excellent in Europe and large cities in Asia but is limited throughout much of the world. Walking is the primary mode of transportation and many people use bicycles in both the city and countryside of SE Asia and Europe. This is great from a health perspective but, for better or worse, limits people’s options and/or forces all manner of creativity when it comes to getting around. We do find the bicycles, provided by any respected hotel in the Netherlands, to be quite useful for commuting, especially after late night socializing with Paul’s Dutch colleagues. I wonder if there are “peddling under the influence” laws in the Netherlands?
What you find in many places is a loose network of alternative transportation options which operate along a wide continuum of availability and reliability. In Thailand, the primary mode of public transportation is in something called a tuk tuk. They are independently owned gasoline driven three wheel motorcycles that hold 2 passengers and the driver. They are not regulated, their availability is sporadic, their range of service is highly dependent upon the driver’s familiarity with the city you are in and their English speaking skills are often limited making destination and payment communication a challenge. In their defense, they are cheap, fun and fast due to their ability to weave in and out of traffic to quickly reach a destination. We found them available in Portugal as well. Another vehicle we experienced in Thailand that moves a greater number of people in and out of the city from outlying areas were in something I would call a “commuter truck.” At designated stops people jump in and out of the back of dark fabric covered trucks where you sit on overcrowded bolted down communal benches next to people clutching all kinds of strange and unusual products purchased at local markets. You never know what you will experience when you jump in or how much you will be jostled around in the heat when the driving becomes erratic all making for some interesting adventures.
One of our routine service transportation experiences while in Thailand included the following flow. Around noon we would meet a Chinese Acupuncturist in a central downtown pharmacy he owned where he publically saw patients in the mornings and prescribed Chinese medicine. The individualized prescriptions were filled at a counter behind which there were dozens of glass containers filled with strange and unusual natural herbs, roots, bulbs, animal skeletons?, etc. Prescriptions included very specific blends of these substances which were weighed out, wrapped in paper packages and picked up by patients to make into tea at home. The potion smelled awful, tasted terrible and I have no idea if it fixed any of my ailments. We would travel by car with him and his 100 year old father who still worked at the pharmacy, along with any number of other acupuncture patients, to his suburban family complex where he lived, operated a small mini-market, took in renters and practiced acupuncture in the afternoon before teaching in yet another location at night. After our respective acupuncture sessions, his wife or father would drive us to a commuter truck stop where we barreled into the back of the truck and were dropped off either at a mall where we secured cab transport back into the city or, alternatively, were taken to the edge of the city where we would catch a tuk-tuk back to the condo. This adventure took all afternoon so we only did it twice a week for about a month. In the end, I have no idea if the acupuncture treatments improved what the Chinese doctor described as my “stuck energy” but it was certainly an interesting local experience. Upon “coming home” from our travels I am always happy to drive my own car again and , albeit boring, control most variables associated with getting around. Happy driving on our good roads with minimal traffic where there are only weather related obstacles and various four legged critters to terrorize us! 2018