Watch your neck!

During language study I was leaving Bubly’s hostel on my bicycle and not really paying attention when I left the path and started driving through the yard and directly into a clothes line. Fortunately I was riding a bike and not a motorcycle; otherwise my head might have been amputated. The line stopped me and I learned to stay on the road/path that is provided.

But staying on the road doesn’t always prevent possible mutilation from ropes that suddenly appear acrossed the road at random places. Last week when I went to Netrogona there was a toll booth for a nearby bridge. On our first trip through we didn’t stop at the toll office as there was a small passageway for motorcycles to the side. I assumed that motorcycles didn’t have to pay the toll – only big vehicles. But when we came back through the toll booth, I had to reduce speed quickly when I saw a rope over the road directly in front of me.

It gets even more random than this. The other evening I was coming home from work near some villages and I saw a crowd of men and boys in Islamic religious dress: beards, prayer hats, and lots of long white shirts and pants. They were shouting and holding out buckets and fliers. I had seen this before when I was on public transportation, but this was my first time passing this on motorcycle. I slowed a bit, but then I saw the rope acrossed the road and I slammed on the breaks. Now that I was almost stopped, I gave an annoyed glance, the rope was lowered and I continued on my way.