Thanksgiving Traffic

Posted by Matthew McEwen

So Thanksgiving was a while day affair here in Dhaka. I got to play flag football in the "turkey bowl" (yeah me and flag football??! and I was a lineman for the most part). There were 4 teams playing and I got a cool jersey with my name on it. And I was blocking a 400 pound Samoan man.

Also that Thursday ,one of the two main political parties (the BNP) was selecting their MPs candidates which made traffic horrendous. People were being bused in, streets were closed, and it was general chaos in the small diplomatic zone we live in. The mentality of Bangli drivers, rickwash wallas, people on bikes, walkers, cow carts, and what ever else is fit to roam the streets is this: if there is a gap then fill it regardless of the fact it's the other lane or that it might causes gridlock. Get there ... and get there fast and before the guy in front of you. It took hours to travel a couple kilometers. At one point I found my van on a street with barracades blocking the way (bamboo poles and lots of armed gaurds) cars were still streaming in behind and the guards were telling people to turn around. Within seconds there were cars pointed in every direction and no one was going anywhere. I rolled down my window and gestured the international sign for "what the hell do i do?" the gaurd smacked a car in front of my and made him back up and waved me through the barricade. I was the only car driving down road 86 where the BNP headquarters are and went through 3 more barricades. TV crews, mobs of people, lots of guns and gaurds and rapid action battalion (RAB) troops. Luckily there was more traffic on the other side and I made it to the first game just a little late.