We left for the airport at 5:20am in the morning, just a little bit before daylight broke. The roads were largely void of traffic on this New Year's day, and we made it to Singaraja in record time. Having passed just a few scooters on the way, it was a surprise to have to move over into the other lane for about 100 yards in Lovina to swerve around the parked scooters at the market. The market opens at 5am every day, and even on January 1 there already was a good crowd at 5:30. Noteworthy, since NYE is definitely widely celebrated here on Bali.

What followed was about a 90min ride up and down the mountains to get from Singaraja to the airport. Something to know about Bali roads is that these are all two-lane roads. One lane up, one lane down. Scooters are the preferred mode of transportation, by a long shot. The speed of each scooter is determined by the payload and/or number people (ranging 1 to 4) on said scooter, the mechanical condition of said scooter, the spirit/bravery/desired life expectancy of the driver and lastly the power of the engine. In that order. As faster scooters catch up with slower scooters, overtaking frequently results in 2 if not 3 parallel scooters.

Because the roads are so narrow, cars have to go into the other lane to overtake a scooter, accompanied by a short "beep-beep" from the driver to alert the scooter to stay on the left (they drive on the left) when someone is also coming from the other side, since the driver has limited room to course correct in that case. When there are 2 (or 3) parallel scooters coming from the opposite direction the driver also flashed his lights. The old definition of momentum (p = M x V), and the high mass (M) and velocity (V) of a car, has instilled a healthy respect in scooter riders to maybe scrunch together a little bit and give the car more space. It's risky, but it mostly works.

When a car is coming from the other direction, the driver makes a judgment call. Our driver was safe, but other drivers definitely would go into the other lane, flash, honk, accelerate as much as they can (which usually isn't much), and then force the about-to-be-overtaken driver to gently break to avoid chaos. It mostly works.

Going up and down the mountain, a new variable enters our game of chicken: line of sight. There seems to be a general consensus that when you cannot see a car coming from the other side, there probably isn't a car coming from the other side, or at least when the time of day is still early. Therefore, it is safe to go into the other lane and overtake. It mostly works.

Given the work, time and effort involved in overtaking, it is important to avoid being overtaken if at all possible. Fortunately not by evasive maneuvers, but rather by going up and down the mountain as fast as possible. I'm not squeamish in the car, but I had to focus on the road quite a bit to keep it together in the tight turns. Again, this mostly works, but this is definitely an area where scooters are bolder in overtaking cars than cars are overtaking cars. It mostly works.

It doesn't always work. On the way up from Ubud to Lovina, we passed an accident scene. There were probably a hundred scooters parked by the side of the road before and after the site of the accident. We learned 4 people (I believe mom, dad and 2 children) on a single scooter got into an accident and 3 were killed on impact and the 4th is in ICU. I wouldn't want to be the 4th walking away from that one.

That said, the give and take really does mostly work. People aren't aggressive, protecting their spot on the road or cutting people off constantly. It is a lot more civilized than Atlanta traffic. However, every time we overtook someone, the feeling of playing chicken couldn't escape me.

Now, let's go experience Bangkok! Already some teaser pictures under Photos.