Some differences in culture make sense to me; others do not. Here’s one. I see this all the time. Pedestrians, bikes, and whatever other form of defenseless vehicle insisting on using the street rather than sidewalks. I’ve seen some people that appear to just stand out in the middle of the road for the heck of it. What? Check out this picture: I took this from the back of the taxi. Here’s what to notice:

• There’s a big ole SUV in the righthand land going pretty fast
• There’s a bike with two people on it in front of both the taxi and the SUV (also, having this sort of passenger on your bike is quite common. The passenger never straddles the bike for some reason…easy exit, I reckon)
• My taxi is in the lefthand lane and this is a two-way road.
• There’s plenty of room on the sidewalk on the right side!