Driving in Kathmandu calls for commando-like survival skills to maneuver among legions of motorcycle drivers, who squirm left and right and everywhere to beat the stalled traffic. It calls for great calm as well to cope with tiny, overcrowded mini-buses that edge up close so the drivers’ assistants can bang on your car warning that you are close to colliding with them. The virtually motionless line traffic can nearly drain your pool of patience as you enter Kathmandu via the sole road leading to the capital of this mountain nation.
You crawl languidly in a mostly two-lane road behind trucks and buses that howl all night long, their horns seemingly praying for a place to speed up. The traffic problems in Kathmandu and Nepal can be blamed on the arrival of the 21st century in a luscious but poverty-stricken country. Outside Kathmandu, drivers must contend with narrow, out-dated roads through mountainous terrain sometimes overcome by landslides. It is estimated that nearly half of Nepal’s population does not have access to all-weather roads. But the main problem in the rural areas is getting medical care for accident victims.
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