Rick Rolling

another thing we haven't mentioned yet are the motorized rickshaws or as i have dubbed them rick rollers. not to be confused with the popular web rouse of rick roll'd, these are a two-stroke three wheeled taxi based on the classic human powered rickshaw. they are EVERYWHERE and riding them is cheap. we haven't paid more than 150 rupee's ($3) for any ride yet. here is what they look like:



and here is a pic from when we got 5 people in at once (i, being the 5th person, was sitting in front with the driver, but had to get out to take the picture.):



while we're on the topic of traffic in india, as with most areas outside of america, canada, japan, australia, and most of western europe, traffic laws are merely suggestions. the lanes here are totally ignored, the few lights we have seen have about a 20-30% acceptance rate. tailgating means being w/in 2 inches of another vehicle. the smog, unfortunately, is pretty awful. one saving grace is that all the cars on the road are tiny, nothing bigger than a 4 cylinder. lastly, if someone went to the auto shop here and they were told their horn and engine were broken, they would fix the horn first. drivers here honk all the time. there are basically two honks, one that says "hey, i'm passing, don't swerve" and one that says "i'm not going to stop, so you better."

all this makes riding around the town quite fun.