Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Julie UK on February 26, 2008:

This reminds me of when I was a teenager on holiday in Greece. We were at a small Taverna in a quiet village and the local policeman turned up on his police motor bike with his wife and 2 kids on! I wish I had a picture of it.

Posted by Laura, Columbus OH on February 27, 2008:

I was in Honduras for two years in the Peace Corps, and piling the transportation to the brim was the norm -- we almost always had furniture or boxes or piles of stuff in the aisle of the bus on the way back from the city. (Which was a real problem the day the bus engine caught fire.) So few people had transportation that those who did usually took everyone and everything that they could. This also included animals, mostly chickens. A chicken loose in a moving bus is NOT a fun thing.

I, myself, have ridden in the top luggage rack of a bus with all sorts of suitcases and other junk (that was REALLY bad, I almost fell off a few times), in the back of a pick-up with thirty other people with everyone standing and holding onto each other so no one would fall out, and with eight other people in a small car. And those are just the times that stand out.

It's definitely not safe, but if that's the only transportation going through that day, you've got no choice. Waiting until the next day just gets you back in the same position -- except maybe, if you're lucky, you're the one inside and not outside. Being stranded is no fun; I got stuck in the middle of nowhere once and had to walk seven miles to get to a town with transportation because the car I had been riding in died; fortunately, I had only a small backpack to carry. And there's the time I got stuck sleeping on the street with a bunch of other people because the bus that was supposed to show never did. So, under those circumstances, the rule is if it's moving, GET ON! Not safe, but if I had waited for safe, I'd probably still be there waiting for a ride...

Everyone who DID have transportation was extremely generous; if they saw you on the side of the road and they had room, they'd give you a ride whether they knew you or not. I can't tell you how many times I was waiting for a bus and had someone with a pick-up with people riding in the back stop and give me a ride. And they never asked anything in return. That generosity is something that I still miss.

Posted by Mekhong Kurt, Bangkok, Thailand on January 22, 2009:

I live in Bangkok and used to live in China, and you sure do see some amazing feats involving motorbikes and even bicycles. Just a few days ago I was walking down the narrow lane where my apartment is, and was astonished at a bicycle piled high with what appeared to be flattened cardboard boxes, all the same size. They must have held really large items (or numerous small ones), as they were about 4-feet -- in all three dimensions. The seat and a small luggage rack behind the seat were completely covered -- a tiny lady was pushing the bicycle -- and towered maybe 8 feet high, from the pavement to the top. I don't know how the lady managed even to push it!

Then there are trains in places such as India. I've never been there, but my Mother has, and some of the most amazing pictures she took were of jam-packed trains -- including the tops. But it's not all that uncommon to see media reports of people getting killed, either from falling off or getting knocked off when the train goes through a tunnel, and that is sad.