Driving - early March

As stories from work would really only excite those working in strategic planning, I’ll share a bit about the driving here. I’ve experienced a lot of different systems, but this has got to be one of the most unique. It actually is a broader scale of my style of driving. There are very few stoplights around the city, less than 10 for sure. On top of these, there are a few traffic circles where sometimes you can find a policeman. Outside of that, there isn’t much regulation. However, the roads, like the people are generally quite polite. People don’t jet out in front of traffic to make turns, they just ease out taking a bit of a lane, half a lane, etc, til the oncoming traffic determines it should be polite and let others cross. This does require quite a few taps of the horn, but it is rare they are long and aggressive, but often just used as a caution or a reminder. Perhaps due to the randomly placed speedbumps, the older cars, or the sense that time has yet to pass the people by, there isn’t a huge rush on the road. Though traffic is a bit chaotic, it is quite polite. People are surprised to look over into our cars and see white faces and it often generates a smile that has to fight against the big chaw of qat in the left cheek. I’ve enjoyed chatting with most of our drivers. This is definitely one of those deployments where interaction with the local population is minimal, so I’ve made the most out of the long rides to and from work when I’ve had the energy. I found out later, after I left that one of the drivers was missing me. That Faris was a riot and I enjoyed laughing with him.