Sharing the Road (and Sidewalk)

On my bike ride home today, a woman yelled at me while waving her arms to emphasize each word, “GET. OFF. THE. SIDEWALK!” I was really angry at first and regretted not returning her yell with a rude gesture. I thought, I am allowed to bike on the sidewalk here. Because, believe it or not, angry lady on the sidewalk, I do try to educate myself about bike laws and I know there is a no-bike-on-sidewalks zone (see map) in downtown DC and (I thought) I was outside it. I double checked when I got home, but as it turns out, I was not quite outside of that zone (see x on map), so, you were correct, rightfully angry madam, and I apologize.

In any case, I supposed that you must have been wronged by some other bicyclist on a sidewalk or otherwise and were taking your ire out on me. I bet that you do not bicycle much yourself or you would have scolded me with something more specific, like “Slow down” or “You’re not allowed to bike on the sidewalk here” or “You could at least say ‘on your left.’” And, because of that, I am guessing that you don’t actually know the rules. I make many assumptions, because just as your outburst was more to make you feel better than to direct a personal attack at me or make me change my ways (another assumption), this soliloquy is not about you; it is about me.

I understand your aggravation. When I walk down Mass Ave. and am startled by a biker silently whizzing by me faster than the cars on the road without so much as an “On your left” to warn me, it frustrates me. When I am driving and see a bicyclist ride through a stop sign or a red light as if the rules don’t apply to him/her, it frustrates me (and makes me afraid for his/her safety). I am equally frustrated when I am biking and a car (taxi) or bus passes too close to me or cuts me off on a turn. Sometimes the driver is a jerk, but other times they don’t realize that you can’t pass a bike like you pass a car.

And sometimes drivers just don't pay attention.
A car honked from behind me just after we passed this sign.

I am one of those people who is guilty of thinking they are an above-average driver. And biker. And walker. Because it’s true. So I feel I am qualified to tell you the rules in the DMV area that you probably don’t know:

• Bicyclists are allowed to bike on the sidewalk unless prohibited by local ordinance (like the purple area in the map) or traffic control devices.
• While on sidewalks and shared use paths, bicyclists must always yield the right of way to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing a pedestrian.
• Motor vehicles in most states shall pass at a reasonable speed at least three feet to the left of the overtaken bicycle.

The Pocket Guide to DC Bike Laws has plenty more useful information.

There are a lot of overly aggressive, unsafe bikers out there. But as many bicyclists as you see on the road or sidewalk, whether you are driving or walking, an individual bicyclist probably gets passed by 5 to 10 times (don’t quote me on these numbers) that number of cars, many of which don’t know how to share the road with bikers. In the end, I’m going to do what’s safest for me, regardless of whether you yell at me on the sidewalk.

Thailand and Myanmar

Belated post:

I escaped the snowstorm that hit the east coast in January by taking a trip to Thailand and Myanmar. I spent my time in Thailand catching up with friends in my Peace Corps village and Bangkok. I was a little worried it might be weird to be back but it was easy fitting right back in and felt like not much time had passed since I left!

I stayed in the same little house I lived in while in Peace Corps service. I had put a Peace Corps poster up on my door nearly five years ago - it was still there!

While going to Thailand was like a relaxed trip at "home," I had some adventures being a tourist on a one-week trip to Myanmar. Myanmar had been at the top of my list since Peace Corps because most people at my site are originally from there. It was a good balance of time spent with friends who now live in Yangon and Mandalay and backpacker trips in Inle Lake and Bagan. Here are all the fun pictures from my trip and, of course, the food pictures:

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

Tea leaf salad, one of my favorites

What's strange about this picture?

Fishermen - the classic picture of Inle Lake

Sunrise over Inle

Boat tour, approaching one of the floating towns

All the boats docked at the floating market - there is one every weekday at a different part of the lake

I made a friend at one of the pagodas!

Shan noodle soup

Samosas and tea at a tea shop in Nyaungshwe

Hot air balloons over Bagan

So many temples in Bagan!

The big temples were fun to visit, but the best views were from the top of smaller temples

National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens at Pwin Oo Lwin 

Feeding bananas to the takin

Sunrise at U-Bein Bridge

Some thoughts and travel tips:

It was interesting to hear from my friends how the country had changed over the past several years. Yangon, for instance, was one huge traffic jam from 8 am to 9 pm. Since the import tax on cars was lifted around 2013, there has been an influx of second-hand cars from Japan (hence the "What's strange about this picture?" where cars drive on the right side, but the driver also sits on the right side, not the left!), but motorbikes are not allowed in the city. Taxis seem to be the most convenient way to get around, but there are no meters, so you negotiate the fare for each trip.

I also found that while I could get away with passing as a local in Thailand, the people in Myanmar were much more shrewd and could always tell that I was a foreigner and therefore had to pay the foreigner entry fee for pagodas, temples, and other sites. Perhaps it's because most people - men and women - still wear the traditional longyi (like a sarong), especially when going to the temples/pagodas.

And speaking of foreigner entry fees, there is one for the "Inle Zone" ($10) and one for the "Bagan Archaeological Zone" ($20 or 25,000 kyats as of October 2015). I somehow managed to skip the Inle one because I was the only non-local on the bus. I had booked all my buses through Oway because I had one week to see 4 different cities and wanted to make sure that I would be able to get to all of them, especially since I was traveling in peak season. It turned out I could have booked most of mine upon arrival, usually for a cheaper price, but at least for the bus from Yangon to Inle, it paid off. I've heard the Bagan entry fee is almost impossible to avoid now.