Driving The Car

Well it has now been a couple of weeks since I started driving here in UB. "Neg" is going well. That's what we called our car. "Neg" means "one" in Mongolian. "Neg Nissan" has had a service and passed, we just had to replace the brake pads which wasn't a surprise. We have had a special heater installed to cope with the bitter cold here. We were unable to obtain an under cover car park where we live so we went for the next option and had the special heater fitted. The heater heats the motor , windscreen and inside of the car, it is a gentle heat that is powered from the fuel in the car. Having the heater stops the motor from freezing which will coarse damage in the long run to the motor. At first I was expecting a toasty warm car but found out on the first morning it wasn't to be, having the heater did at least make a difference and I am sure once it hits -30 I will notice a bigger difference.

Picture: First snow fall for the year Oct 6th, 2007

I decided to take a camera along in the car one day to see if I could catch some classic Mongolians "Nookties" in action. We decided that calling them idiots wasn't very good if Paige was in the car so we came up with a different word "Nookties - stupid drivers that wouldn't have a clue how to drive a car or follow road rules".

Picture: Traffic jam at an intersection when the light is green

Now for the tales about driving. I think I am doing really well, a couple of near misses and lots of "I don't believe it" things have been going better then I expected. Even got pulled over by the police and didn't have to pay a cent, more about that later.

Picture: Silver car going through red light and black car waiting at lights way ahead of white line

We have travelled to many parts of the world, I think I can safely say most Mongolian drivers are mad, crazy and pig headed and are very unsafe. They fight for every inch of the road and most wont let you in without a fight. The bus drivers are in a class of their own and rule their space on the road. Pedestrians are just as crazy, they step out onto roads without looking and cross the road not waiting for the green walk sign. People have told me that there are road rules here but I just have to laugh at that suggestion. Drivers will stop anywhere, park anywhere, go through red lights and will even have a wee while stopped at the traffic lights and that's even before lunch time. Oh the fun and games of driving here and the sights I have seen.

Picture: Mongolian parking where ever, blocking lane of road

You have most likely heard "Expect the unexpected", well I have to say that does not work here "Expect the expected". There is a T junction that you would think the cars would stop at, well it is very rare that they do and nine times out of ten I am the one who stops at this section on the way to Paige's school. Getting to know how Mongolian think is a bit of getting used to but I think I am now getting the hang of it.

Picture: Car with flat tyre, driver just keeps driving

I was at the traffic lights stopped the other day and I thought the policeman was waving me on so I turned left across the traffic. Before I know it he waved me to the side of the road blowing his whistle. So I stopped, got out of the car and grabbed my licence. I have been told never hand over your licence as you may never see it again without paying large sums of money. So when the policeman approached me he said something in Mongolian and I held my licence up where he tried to grab it so I moved back a little so he couldn't get it. Then he said something else so I waved at the light and spoke really fast in English that I thought he had waved me around the corner to go. He then said registration, which you have to carry in the car so I held that up and he grabbed both licence and registration out of my hand. I was thinking "Crap whats this going to cost me now?" but to my surprise he handed both documents back to me and waved me on. How lucky was I I got back in the car and went on my way still shaking a little bit. I think he must of thought "Crazy woman" the way I was talking plus I don't think he could speak English so it must of been all to hard for him. Counting my lucky stars I spoke to some other expats who had been driving here to get some tips from them on how to handle the police here. The advice I was given was;

• Depending where you are, don't stop as they cant track you down
• When you show your licence make it hard for them to grab from you, wear it around you neck in card holder or tie it to your bag.
• Always carry an extra wallet with bribe money, small notes no more then 5,000 tugs ($5) in it as this is the going rate for payment if pulled over for expats.

I must admit that having our own car here makes life much easier then using the company vans provided. With all the inconvenience of the traffic and the way the Mongolians drive it is just a matter of getting used to the way things work here when driving.