Bus Accident

CM -- Yesterday it snowed. This comes after a day that hit 45 F (incredibly warm for Mongolia at this time of year). The snow and warm weather created a lot of water, which, when the temperatures dropped again, turned into beautiful ice. The roads aren’t taken care of very well here. There are no plows or salt trucks. People are employed to sweep the roads off with giant straw brooms. Ice is removed by pounding it with large steel bars, then shoveling it on the curb. Needless to say, this doesn’t happen very quickly.

OK, now I’ve set the scene. After volunteering yesterday, I got on the bus to meet Jessica and some friends for dinner. As we passed the Wrestling Palace, the bus began to skid (just before a red light). It skidded right into the car in front of us. The bus driver got out. Everyone on the bus stood up to look, but the doors didn’t open, so everyone stayed on the bus. The driver came back, got something from the driver pod (the driver has his own miniature room built around him on the bus), then tried to run away. Someone grabbed him, but lost their grip. He ran off the bus, leaving us on a bus that had been in an accident without any driver. This was shocking to me, but no one else seemed too concerned. Another person (hopefully employed by the bus company) immediately sat down in the driver’s seat, and drove us away, making all the normal stops as if nothing had happened!

Maybe I missed something somewhere, but that’s how I saw it. Quite interesting, especially considering a Mongolian policeman was sitting in the seat next to me. He never moved. Our friend Amrah said that is normal. Since the policeman was not a TRAFFIC policeman, he really wouldn’t do anything. I have to say, it was convenient, though. I didn’t lose a lot of time, and it gave me something to ponder for the rest of the ride…