{"id":9860,"date":"2016-08-18T08:05:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T02:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/?p=9860"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:15:20","slug":"the-waiting-place-no-thats-not-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/the-waiting-place-no-thats-not-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Waiting Place&#8230;&#8221;[&#8230;] &#8220;No! That&#8217;s Not for [me]!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As a people, the Nepalis are&nbsp;some of the most patient in the world&#8230;granted, a lot of the times, they don&#8217;t have a choice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But put them <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/in-a-hurry-to-be-late\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">behind the wheel<\/a>&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is partly why driving in Kathmandu is an <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/horn-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">endless source of amusement<\/a>! You MUST appreciate the entertainment value in what you see and experience while behind the wheel in&nbsp;this metropolis! \ud83d\ude00 The other option is not viable, if you live in the city and drive, even if just occasionally!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(The other sources of amusement on the streets of the city are: the way the <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/never-end-piss-and-love\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">police (try to) manage the traffic<\/a>, the roads themselves, <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/never-end-piss-and-love\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the road signs<\/a>, the way the pedestrians behave etc.!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15pt\">The kind of driving I came across&nbsp;a few days ago, far from being unusual, is actually THE norm on the streets of Kathmandu!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15pt\">The difference was that I made a record of it and am reproducing it here.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[bctt tweet=&#8221;On the streets of #Kathmandu, there is but one rule: there are NO rules! #Nepal&#8221; username=&#8221;Dorje_sDooing&#8221;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Approaching a crossroad, I came up to stalled traffic, obviously waiting for the &#8220;go signal&#8221; from the traffic police manning it. So, I drove up behind the last vehicle, hit the brakes,&nbsp;stopped and waited&#8230;as one does, or as one&nbsp;is supposed to do&#8230;unless you are in Kathmandu!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That red car you see in the photo below, of course, didn&#8217;t!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"345\" src=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1.-Red-car-09.56.46.jpg\" alt=\"1. Red car 09.56.46\" class=\"wp-image-9896\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1.-Red-car-09.56.46.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1.-Red-car-09.56.46-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It drove right past me, on the <em>wrong<\/em> side of the road and, of course, the predictable happened! (Yes, this is a two-way&nbsp;street.) As you can see, the white car beyond the culprit and vehicles behind it are now completely&nbsp;stuck, in turn probably halting&nbsp;the flow&nbsp;of traffic at the junction, delaying us all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The green jeep, an army vehicle, whose front end you can see a little of on the bottom right corner, drove up next to me, obviously on the <em>wrong<\/em> side of the road, and was obviously also thinking of doing the same&#8230;but hesitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I held my tongue and didn&#8217;t say anything, even though the driver was within earshot, because I was having a little too much fun watching and recording all this&nbsp;unfold!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Besides, had I asked why they were going down the wrong side, I would have probably gotten the answer I have gotten in the past: <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/in-a-hurry-to-be-late\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Everyone is doing it!&#8221;<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the mean time&#8230;a motorbike joined the red car!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-09.56.23.jpg\" alt=\"2. Red car followed by a motorcyle 09.56.23\" class=\"wp-image-9895\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-09.56.23.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-09.56.23-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The army jeep continues to hesitate as you can see in the photo below, while the biker has barely started backing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/3.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-army-jeep-09.56.26.jpg\" alt=\"3. Red car followed by a motorcyle &amp; army jeep 09.56.26\" class=\"wp-image-9894\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/3.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-army-jeep-09.56.26.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/3.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-army-jeep-09.56.26-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hesitation didn&#8217;t last long though. The temptation, I guess, was too much! It forged ahead, as you can see in the photo below, to join the motorcycle and the red car even as the biker continued backing up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"366\" src=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/4.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-army-jeep-09.56.29.jpg\" alt=\"4. Red car followed by a motorcyle &amp; army jeep 09.56.29\" class=\"wp-image-9893\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/4.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-army-jeep-09.56.29.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/4.-Red-car-followed-by-a-motorcyle-army-jeep-09.56.29-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All the while, the red car did NOT budge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But before it&nbsp;got more interesting and amusing (for me!), traffic started moving and I was out of there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15pt\">If you didn&#8217;t know, on the streets of Kathmandu, there is but one rule: there are NO rules! <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/horn-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Horns rule<\/a> where, when and how traffic moves!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I argue that the <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/horn-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">brain of a driver is the most important<\/a> &#8220;appendage&#8221; in the assemblage of a motor vehicle and a driver, many in Kathmandu would probably argue for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/horn-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the horn<\/a>! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a matter of fact, those who follow traffic rules in Kathmandu are a nuisance to all other drivers&#8230;as I constantly keep discovering!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote twitter-tweet is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I don&#8217;t always <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/drive?src=hash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#drive<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Kathmandu?src=hash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#Kathmandu<\/a>. But when I do, I piss off all the other drivers&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zGRhjj022P\">pic.twitter.com\/zGRhjj022P<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dorje_sDooing\/status\/763198800844521472\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 10, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless, pondering the actions of those three &#8212; yeah, I know what you are thinking &#8212;&nbsp;what I want to know is what went through their heads, apart from &#8220;everyone is doing it&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What goes through the heads&nbsp;of such drivers&#8230;if anything at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driving in Kathmandu can be quite the entertainment! Here&#8217;s an account of an incident which repeats everyday, pretty much everywhere, also pretty much at all times on the streets of Kathmandu!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"The Waiting Place...\"[...] \"No! 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