I was on the west coast of the island of Martinique, heading back to my hotel on the east coast. At some point I made a wrong turn, and found myself on a single-lane road twisting and turning through a mountain range. The mountains were very steep and pointed, and the road hugged the edges like in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon . . . one side went up vertically, and the other side went down vertically. And of course you couldn’t see around the curves, so had no idea if you were about to encounter a wall of rock or a waterfall . . . or if another vehicle was coming the other way. If there was, there was usually not much room to pass, so one of the cars had to get REALLY close to the edge.
To make matters worse, I had no idea whether this road would eventually lead back to the other side of the island. It was already late afternoon, and I absolutely did not want to still be on this road when it got dark. And there was never enough room to turn around.
Fortunately it eventually did get me back to my hotel, but took about 5 times as long as the correct road would have.
The really sad thing is that this road had some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever experienced . . . but there was no place to pull over and take pictures.
Ugh, that would be “any road in India for $50, Alex.”
Actually, they’ve improved many of the roads but I still find the ones going through the mountains in Goa and over the western ghats in Maharashtra absolutely terrifying. The worst is the arguments my sister and I get into with my parents about bus vs. private car (my sister and I want to hire a car, my parents are like “we want to recapture our youth by going by bus!”). Taking those hairpin turns in a bus with no headlights and a drunk conductor was the last time I got on public transport in India. Especially when they’re driving according to the Indian Rules of Traffic. PS, there are no rules in India. It is perfectly acceptable to drive a f*cking bus in the MIDDLE of the road around a corner with the possibility of an oncoming car that you can’t see.
I googled and found some pictures. They really don’t do these roads any justice. Think the Route 1 road up the CA coast halved, with more insane lorries and buses and a steeper fall into the Indian Ocean or deep valleys. shudder
Also, I haven’t done it yet, but another state I want to go to in India is Leh. I have read some terrifying travelogues about travelling from Manali to Leh and also about the highest mountain pass into the Nubra Valley. I read an account where the kids hired a vehicle and driver and the brakes went out but the guy kept insisting it was okay to drive. Finally it got too scary and they all just abruptly got out of the car and started walking. Unfortunately they were all underdressed for the weather and on the verge of choosing between Death by Shady Indian Auto vs. Freezing when an Indian army truck passed them and gave them a ride to Leh.
Two weeks ago we were on the road from Kochi to Munnar. Same Same. What a crazy road and the ahem “rules” of traffic seem to have been forgotten long ago. Now having been to India, I see why the Dubai driving is so bad.
I’m so jealous of you! My parents are in India taking various luxury pleasure treks right now. I was invited to come along but I exhausted all of my vacation for interviews this year.
Although I am not at all jealous of the driving. India is one place where I will happily climb aboard an airplane.
I was rather disappointed in India… it is such a mess and just too much chaos. I much preferred the 10 days I spent wandering around the Sudan. I think it’ll be a long time before I go back to India… though the far north might be nice.
I think the thing that bothered me was zero open space. We could drive for four hours and always be “in town” despite going nearly 200km.
I have successfully avoided the [strike]mothership[/strike] homeland for a while now. I’m sure the population pressures are increasing encroaching into previously rural areas. I haven’t been to the North since the 80s but I’ve heard even more remote places like Leh are no longer off the beaten path.
I’m pretty used to sprawl having spent the last 5 years in Los Angeles. There are some cultural sites and things I really want to see.
Even better, about fifteen years ago, I was driving down it at about 2am, with one lane shut for construction, so there was just one lane with Jersey barrier separating it from the construction zone, and deer crossing the road at random intervals. (Plus there are a couple of grade crossings, I think just north of Westchester County. Nothing like the fear of imminent death to keep you awake.
Nanaimo, BC to Tofino, BC in the middle of the night. Due to traffic and border crossing, I’d missed the not quite so late ferry and ended up on the really damn late ferry but didn’t think it would matter because I was told “it’s only a 2 hour drive.” It’s not. It’s a 3-4 hour drive, through a mountain pass in a rainforest with no median and trucks going some unknown number of kilometers per hour the opposite way (because they travel in silly units of measurement up there), and nowhere to pull off the road and no lights. (I had lights, the road doesn’t).
Luckily, it was a full moon, so when it peeked through the clouds, it provided some illumination. Actually, driving into a fully moonlit valley is one of my favorite driving moments. It was breathtaking. But most of the time it was driving with only being able to see a tiny bit of the road in front of me before I’d have to turn go sharply up or sharply down and not being able to slow down very much and not being able to stop, because there was no pulling over and some other idiot might be behind me.
It got scarier (beautiful, but scary) on the drive back, in the middle of the afternoon, where I could see all of the places I could have slid off of the road down the sheer drop offs.
I feel like the most frightened I’ve ever been while driving had less to do with the road itself and more to do with the conditions. Several years ago, I was driving from Ohio to Michigan, and somewhere in northern Ohio, it started pouring rain. REALLY pouring rain. It was dark, and I couldn’t see anything. My headlights just illuminated the rain. I tried slowing down, but the other drivers, who presumably knew the road much better than I did, zipped past me at 75 mph and rode my ass. It was not cool. I ended up pulling over to the side and waiting for the rain to subside.
I’ve had way scarier experiences as a passenger, though: I’ve been to Egypt and India.
Oh man, that is a fantastic road! I drove up to Logan pass for sunset once and spent an hour taking pictures of mountain goats. I made a huge effort not to spook them, but they were so used to humans they walked right up to me.
As per my post above, I just did both of these roads (Manali-Leh and over the Khardung La into the Nubra Valley) this past October, for fun.
We enjoyed the trip.
PM me if you want details and/or photos.
Wow, hrm…Probably the scariest MOMENT driving was going through Oregon mountains at night <and I distinctly remember the only radio station we could get: apparantly some guy in his basement had a ham radio, cause I doubt there’s really a “‘KWED’, for all your smoking entertainment” on the official lists anywhere>. This was in a Geo storm, when they first came out; sister riding shotgun, dog in the back barely able to sit up cause the car was so small, very light. It was night, it was curvy-twisty-going up and downhill, and it was sleeting; the road was VERY icy.
I’m one to drive right to my comfort level, but the more comfortable I am, the more ‘gas’ I’ll give it until I’m at that perfect edge. I looked down at the speed, cause I was surprised I was doing so well and feeling so good about it…and the speedometer said 120. Right after that, I swear I felt us hydroplaning.
I took my foot off the gas, got it down to about 60, and apologized to my dozenth guardian angel for the heart attack I’d just given him. >.< Drunks, fools, small children…
There’s been a few moments of terror but I can’t say I’ve had any prolonged fear on a road. Offroad is a different story. Always wanted to do the Lion’sBack in Moab, but I think they sold the land and shut it down.
I try not to go there because I’m afraid I’ll kill someone. I’ve been ripping through there on motorcycle or vehicle with nothing whatsoever in my rear view mirror only to be passed by motorcycles in the middle of a blind curve three seconds later. I don’t know how the death rate stays as low as 1-2 per weekend in the summer.
There are some cultural sites and things I really want to see.
