Life . . . Reframed: Scooters - the Minivan of Bali

Getting packed up - more to come!

We’ve been here for about 3 weeks now, and my iPhone camera has been working overtime ever since we arrived. Everything here is so different - my world has tilted on its axis. It’s been a bit of a challenge to my beliefs of “how things should be”, and the first few days I just wanted to leave as I couldn’t get used to reality here.

When I finally decided to accept ‘what is’, I found myself really looking at the place and have come to love it . . . and not love it at the same time. I've broken my thoughts down into a few different blog posts with different themes. This is the first of those.

The traffic and the roads here are not for the faint of heart. England’s small country roads scared me, but I got used to them. On Jersey, neither one of us had the nerve to drive the tiny country lanes, although I suppose we would have eventually. But here - not a chance! If there is one driving lane, the locals can turn it into two or five immediately.

Chaos corner in the village of Mas. Not a stop sign in sight.
Absolutely 100% typical.

Scooters ride within inches of cars. Everyone cuts in front of
everyone else. Cars can have two or three scooters on both sides of
them at any time. It's nuts.

From the van we're riding in. The black and red vans
beside us are in a single lane.

The guy in the foreground will be beside the van in
a second and the one beside him is going up the other side
of the van creating a new lane in the middle of the road.

Look at the five scooters and how close they are to each other. At least
these drivers are wearing helmets!

Scooters, bicycles, cars, busses and pedestrians are all considered vehicles. Often, three or four scooters will be driving abreast, all intent on turning different directions. Sidewalks are a rarity, and so walking on the road in traffic is often the only choice if you’re a pedestrian. Somehow, the vehicles all keep an eye out for each other, but it’s exhausting for the driver and you can't take your
eye off the road for even a second. At first we were quite terrified of walking on the road, but we realized quickly that the vehicles just move around us. No-one can go really fast here anyhow.

The scooter is the primary method of transport here. I suspect
they outnumber the cars by about 100:1

I'm standing on the corner of an intersection on this bit of
sidewalk in front of a small store. There are no stop signs and the
traffic is chaotic. See the two scooters coming up on
to the sidewalk to bypass everything? They will just drive
around me as I take pictures. Simple.

Schoolgirls on their way home. The driving age is 17 here and they
are technically supposed to wear helmets, but the laws are
widely ignored.

Sometimes a tour bus comes along, and then we need to hope
there's room to step to the side of the road. Usually
they pass within 3 or 4 inches of us. Especially if there
is a car or scooter on the road as well.

The part of our walk home that we like least. It's a downhill and
then an uphill through a gully with a big curve at the top of
the hill. We need to be careful of vehicles coming around
the corner. But they always politely honk that they are coming.

If you’re driving a car, you need to be aware of scooters to the right and left of you, creating their own driving lane literally inches from your vehicle. Turning onto another street or into a driveway borders on crazy-making - you have to be aware of scooters trying to zip past before you make your turn. Changing lanes and not hitting 4 or 5 scooters is a skill here.

And if there is a sidewalk, the scooters will use it to get around the cars and busses, so be careful if you’re a pedestrian.

The scooters are another story altogether. I’ve seen families of 4 and 5 people all riding on the same seat. If a child is capable of standing, they are often set between the drivers arms. Mothers sit sidesaddle behind their husband, and hold babies in their arms. Helmets are optional. I saw one family where the mom was wearing a helmet, but none of the 3 kids had one on. I’ve found myself horrified at parents transporting their children in what seems to be a very unsafe manner. But maybe that’s my western obsession with rules and safety. They seem to be managing just fine.

Going out for a ride. The small children stand in front while
mom or dad drive. No helmets. No padding.

Baby held in one arm while driving. There's a traffic jam
right now and she was stopped so I was able
to catch this picture.

Family of three. Mom's riding sidesaddle holding the baby.
This is technically a walking path that bypasses the monkey
forest. But it's used by scooters as a shortcut to the other side of town.

Carpooling to work maybe? I suppose that would
technically be scooter pooling.

This family of four went right in front of me on the sidewalk.
Note that mom has a helmet. Kids - not so much.

This was on a 4-lane street in the larger city of
Denpasar. Traffic was crazy. Just squish the little
guys between the bigger ones.

Small children walk down the roads with their friends, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of traffic. Fortunately, we haven’t seen any mishaps, but every day that we’re out there seems like an accident waiting to happen.

We’re told that the driving age here is 17, but in the neighbourhoods we have seen much younger children riding scooters around - often doubling each other. Helmets are supposed to be a requirement, but clearly it’s not enforced to any degree as we see as many helmet-less riders as we do those with helmets.

One thing we have noticed is that people seem to use scooters even for going one block. There’s not a lot of walking happens here. We walk into Ubud almost every day - it takes about a half hour -, and I think the neighbours think we’re a bit odd.

I think I mentioned the driving age is 17.
These little guys from our village are dressed for temple.
It's about a 3 minute walk, but 'if you can scooter,
why walk?' seems to be the attitude.

Village woman scootering from one end of our road to a home
about halfway along. It's about a 2 minute walk.
Note the basket of goodies she's holding in one hand
as she drives. Hard to get a clear picture as she was riding away!

Mom with the helmet. Child on the back. Propane tank being
transported in the front. I'm sure it's safe, right?

People ride in the back of trucks. Remember the good old days in Canada when we could do this too?

Driving to work

Too many for one scooter I guess.

Just bought a Balinese-style couch. Drop the tailgate,
put it in the truck and go for a ride! Taken from the restaurant
as we enjoyed dinner on Christmas day.

Scooters are used to transport amazingly large loads of goods. Some have barbecues attached at the back and the driver will stop at the roadside to cook and sell sate.

Have bbq, will travel . . . and cook at the side of the road. I
didn't buy one - the flies were buzzing all around.

I honestly have no idea how he does this. But he's one of many.

Others seem to have a full ‘store’ of goodies for the children to buy for a few cents. Firecrackers are the most popular item right now with New Years coming up.

Yes, there's a scooter under there. And yes, he drives it like this.
These are all New Years noisemakers & firecrackers.

Lots of little toys for the kids. Apparently these guys park near
the schools to sell their wares.

Honking horns in western culture usually indicate that the honker is annoyed at something another driver has done or is doing. Here, it’s used to warn other drivers that you are beside them or behind them, or you’re coming up to a blind corner. They don’t seem to be used in an angry way at all. So my reaction to the sounds of horns has been altered, in a good way. I will probably now just think of them as another driver being helpful and courteous. Seems nicer :-)