Saturday, June 15, 2013

splitting lanes

i just had a really good morning.  i have been sleeping well; but not last night.  i have been feeling more alive and awake.  i have been more connected, engaged and aware of my surroundings.  the level of frustration and anticipation have both broken and settled to a much lower level.  life is really good, better than it has ever been maybe.  i am happy.  but happy people are boring in most ways.  they are just going about their lives being happy, so why write about that... no one wants to hear how happy you are.  no one wants to hear that you had fun this morning, that you burned off a little stress.  drama and comedy both come from tragedy, never from contentment.  contentment is boring and you should keep it to yourself.

i got my honda cb 650 back from hungryghost last week.  the paint job is exactly what i wanted, vermilion was perfect for a bike named nakal.  the build striped a bunch of weight from the bike.  its faster, feels like it has more torque off the mark and snaps to a new line when you push it over.  it's well worth the cost, and i an really happy i argued that i needed another bike.  i can't wait to get it out into the hills and explore.  this bike is all about sharing and having fun.  you can feel the good karma as you walk up to it.

but this morning was a quick hop to antip-TT.  i needed to go to kampung pandan yet again.  the frame is back ... and the wheels are on.  there is no sign of the engine and no one was able to give me an estimate ... wait, there is that frustration.  there is the drama, the urge to take matters into my own hands and elicit a response ... but i talked with some people about this earlier this week, and saw shock and possibly suppressed fear bubble out when i did, so i am going to put that aside for now and focus on the good. i will remember the advice i saw along with the fear, i will "hug it out" and suppress the urge.

one of the great things about riding is KL is the fact that splitting lanes is legal ... well, much like the majority of life here, i am not sure if it is legal but it is common.  it's one of the things that got me riding again.  i would be sitting in traffic and watching the people on little scooters slip by between the lanes.  friends back in the states, especially those in winter climates have no idea that asia runs on small low powered motorcycles.  it is not uncommon to see a family of 4 riding down the roads of asia on what in the US would be seen as a bicycle with an tiny engine.  think moped without peddles, but with 4 or more passengers, and you get the idea.

but KL is also a modern city with congested highways.  the middle class here love their cars, and because of government cronyism pay three times more than US prices for them.  they are status symbols more than transportation.  the model and year of your car sends a strong message to the community on who you are.  when you spend more than 60,000 USD for a mini-cooper, you are driving a hipster mobile that rather than saying "i am a recent college graduate" as it does in the US, says "i ... or my parents ... am successful".  can you imagine the pride the mercedes driver feels knowing they could afford 1500,000 USD for the luxury name plate?

the government has been defending the outrageous cost of cars here by pointing out that if prices were to drop more people would have cars and traffic would be worse.  this doesn't seem to motivate the poor who ride with their children tucked between the parents on the mini-cycles to vote for new government.  and the middle class don't seem to mind sitting in the traffic jams that they already suffer.  they suffer not because of the number of cars on the road, but because the highways are a mish-mash of crony-company owned toll roads that were never designed to be used as a unified or logical system of transportation.  the toll roads are designed first to collect money, and much less so to move people around the city.

which gets me to why i am riding again.  i am so sick of sitting in traffic that i have elected to join the working poor and embrace the only logical mode of transportation in this city.  i can now zip past the chronically trapped cars, sometimes in a special lane only for motorcycles.  i am not paying tolls, because toll roads are free for motorcycles.  i am exposed to the rains, but this month is the dry season, and i am getting better and better at timing the showers.  i also have met people in the motorcycle community and get waves and smiles all the time from others around me.  KL is much more pleasant when you are not trapped inside your car waiting.  the feeling of the wind on your face, the sound of the engine, the pull of the throttle as you move off the line, these are just added positives to the ability to avoid the pain of "the jam".

this is some of the reason i am happier.  but, even this comes with a caveat ... although splitting lanes is common, and fully legal, there are some that seem to want it to stop.  i don't think it's the lane splitting per se.  i think it's the fact that others are getting ahead while they are stuck.  you know who you are, the drivers who put your tires as close to the centerline as you can.  at times you go further and just move over the line an sit in traffic half way over.  you are not merging, you are blocking.  you do not stay in line, or have the courtesy to move over and make space for the poor people who are on bikes.  its either to block the way fully, or make the job of squeezing through the jam that much harder.  you know you are doing it, i can tell by the way you stare straight ahead, ignoring the plight of others.

splitting lanes is a system of sharing the roads and making way for the smaller bikes to move between the cars.  asian's should be proud of the spirit of cooperation that it takes.  only one state in the US, california, allows splitting lanes.  americans see it as dangerous, but numerous studies show it is not when it's allowed and expected.  although, it can be down right scary when you are on a bigger bike and some dumb ass in a mercedes moves to the middle as you come up on them.  the locals on the little bikes are amazingly talented at slipping between cars, with acrobatic moves to avoid such active agressive tactics, but anything over 400cc takes more space to get through.

have a little generosity of the soul, sharing is good for you.  just because you felt special in your overly expensive car, but lost that when poor people on the cheapest vehicles around started to pass you.  why don't you listen to some music, sit back in your leather seats and relax.  the jam will open up and you will get home, just not as fast as the smart people on motorcycles.

if you can't share, why don't you get out of your car and buy a bike.  stop needing the status symbol of your car to give you a sense of worth.  feel better by getting out and enjoying getting around.  begin to connect with the people around you again.  maybe someone will smile at you, hell you might smile back and wave like a human being, rather than staring forward to avoid eye contact while you are being a jerk.

i feel better.  i got this off my chest and i get to go out and ride again.  i am fully aware you are not going to change, you are going to keep doing this... but lets be clear... you are running a risk.  if you merge into the wrong person, maybe one who is not a local, is not constrained by asian shame and culturally false-courtesy, maybe one returning from a quick trip to check on the project that has slipped into a black-hole of delays, lies and missed deadlines, that person may very well exercise a generous portion of directed anger upon you.  it could be enough to show you that pretending not to notice is not going to work.  american road rage is something you do not want to experience.

if this happens, we will not be able to "hug it out, bitch".

...

honestly, that might make me more happy than i already am.

4 comments:

  1. Happy to read you again! Like your way of thinking!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:50 PM

    I completely agreed with your thoughts in this post. Have you ever heard about "truly Asian"? Those uncivilized drivers are the best described as "truly Asian drivers with no respect and manner" :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. "An advanced city is not a place where the poor move about in cars, rather it's where even the rich use public transportation" - Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogotá 1998-2001

    ReplyDelete
  4. People with money don't ride on public transport ... don't believe me, okay here is a study...

    http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/transit_passenger_characteristics_text_5_29_2007.pdf


    a few do ... but if you can afford the flexibility of personal transport, you take it. what is more flexible than a bike?

    ReplyDelete