Dala is a township across the river from Yangon on the southern bank of the Yangon River. The number of people living there was difficult to ascertain. We heard numbers that varied from 500 to 150,000. At any rate, there are many communities across the river from Yangon. The people in these communities mostly work in Yangon. Most of the time, they make $5 US a day for eight hours work. They commute into Yangon every day by vehicle and boat and commute back every night. That aspect is not very different from our own situation in the U.S.

Our chauffeur-driven sidecar bicycle ride was really fun and interesting. We shared the main road with cars, trucks, motorcycles, and all other wheeled vehicles. Once we veered off the main road and into the ‘neighborhoods’, we shared the road with mostly motorcycles, bicycles, people, dogs, so on. The roads through the subdivision were concrete and quite nice. They were crowded at times but nothing that alarmed us at all. When kids saw us coming, they would run to the road and line up to “high-five” us as we rode past them. They clearly have some knowledge of western culture. For myself, I really enjoyed the trip. The sidecar was mostly comfortable but a little bit of a tight fit and of course, the ride was somewhat bumpy for various reasons.

In these photos, I will mostly concentrate on the sidecar ride aspect of our trip to the Dala Township. These photos are not very good as I took them while moving along quite speedily and sometimes taking photos over my head looking backwards etc.

1. In the first photo, you can see Vicky being passed by a van. We were out on the main road with all types of vehicles. The blue-roofed building behind her is the new Ferry Terminal.

2. The second photo is just as we veered off the main road and into the neighborhood. It was a challenge cutting into oncoming traffic. At that point, I suspect that Vicky was glad I wasn’t driving.

3. In the neighborhood, the obstacles could mount up with other vehicles, dogs, people carrying water or food, pedestrians, but only rarely a vehicle.

4. Vicky is chatting up her driver during our ride. She was probably explaining how I almost crushed a few people by not knowing where the brakes were.

5. The last photo doesn’t look too bad for Vicky but I was right in front of the taxi taking the photo – and considering that it might be my last shot….