We’re a curious bunch, so let’s have a thread to ask if they have [something you’ve wondered about] in other places. You know, that oddity you’re sure is too weird to exist elsewhere.
I’ll go first.
Do they have on/off highway ramps anywhere else? I don’t mean on ramps and off ramps, because obviously those are everywhere. What I mean is have you ever seen a single ramp that’s both an on and an off ramp, with a lane of traffic in each direction like a road? There’s one on route 16, with people getting on the highway on one side of the ramp, and off the highway on the other, with just a yellow line to seperate the two lanes. I won’t go on it at after dark because it’s too scary. This is the only one I’ve ever seen. Are there more of these crazy things out there?
There’s at least one like that here in Panama, that I often take home after work. But you don’t want to know about some of the other traffic anomalies here. I know of at least three places where there is a two-lane link between two roads that go in opposite directions, and on the crossover you have to drive on the left (rather than on the right as usual in Panama). If you don’t know these things exist, I don’t know how you would figure them out, especially if you came upon them in the dark.
Given a very narrow definition of “everywhere” I suppose. But I never saw an onramp nor an offramp in southern Mexico and Guatemala (and did a lot of driving there).
Countries where I have seen military checkpoints (off the top of my head):
Guatemala
Iraq (both Kurdish militias and Iraqi military)
Yemen
Turkey (in eastern Turkey near border with Iraq)
Afghanistan
Kosovo
Indonesia (Aceh province)
Jordan (near Iraq boder)
Kuwait (ditto)
Phillippines (Cotabato City)
Russia (near Chechen region)
Same way you get on and off a normal road… the “highways” are all very narrow, winding, 2-lane roads that go right through many small towns and villages (and even have speedbumps along them in these parts). There’s nothing like a big 8-lane American freeway with fast-moving traffic so the concept of an onramp seems pretty alien.
I know there are motels all over North America, but do other motels have red haired midgets who crawl out of the ceiling to stare at you while you sleep, or is it just this particular Best Western?
Do other places have huge statues of Paul Bunion (I hope I’m spelling that right)? There is one in Minnesota in his theme park. It has a huge statue of Babe the Blue Ox too.
There is a Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox along Highway 101 between Klamath and Crescent City California. If you use Google Earth, enter Klamath, California, and follow the highway north out of town. Click on the photo icons to see the giant statues.
Note that Babe is an intact bull, not a steer type ox.
