November 5, 2011

Getting creative with cargo

I love the ingenious ways that people transport things in other parts of the world.  I've encountered all manner of objects, people, and animals being toted around by motorbike, bicycle, foot, car, truck, cow, donkey, and ox.  And to think I've been using U-Haul all these years.  How unoriginal of me.  I'll still likely continue to hire a truck when I need to move some serious cargo, but I'd like to give kudos to the top 3 transportation accomplishments that I've seen in my travels. 

1.  Vietnam: unidentifiable green plant overload


The bicycle tour group I was with was admiring a lovely rice paddy in the Mekong Delta when this woman came tottering down the lane.  She was lying on top of the load, barely able to reach the handlebars.  As she slowly plodded past us, I noticed that her feet were dangling off the back.  There was no way for her to access the pedals, so she gave alternating pushes with her feet.  This made for a very... slow...  ride...

2.  Namibia:  10 people in a small SUV


Oops, I'm part of the cargo this time.  Everyone wants to end a vacation with an epic final night, right?  That's exactly what we did in Windhoek, Namibia in 2010 before flying home.  And that's how we found ourselves crammed into a single vehicle headed to a country-western bar with our newly-acquired South African friends.  That's right - a country-western bar in the middle of Namibia. 

3.  Egypt:  a camel


Bah, who needs a trailer?  Just throw your large animal in the back of the truck and be done with it.  I can't imagine how the owner got the camel in there, but surely drugs were involved.  And that rope tied across the back does a lot of good, I'm sure.

2 comments:

  1. When I lived in Puerto Rico I was amazed to see them transporting horses in the back of trucks, ala Egypt-camel style. The biggest difference is the horses wouldn't lie down so I was always afraid they'd go tumbling out if they took a corner too fast...

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  2. Wow, so I suppose animal trailers are just an American phenomenon! I'm sure a few horses have accidentally bitten it down there... hopefully not too many, or they'd find another solution.

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