Photos of USA '06

everything looking familiar

on the way to town on monday to familiarize myself with the area again. this is the view from the bus stand where i take the first of second bus to town. oh by the way, one bus trip cost USD2 if you pay by cash and USD1.30 if you pay by token, of which you must buy the token in advance to enjoy the discount. if you need to take another bus to complete your journey, you can buy a transfer coupon for USD0.60 on board the first bus and give it to the driver on the second bus. take about expensive bus trips.

when i was here in december, those green trees were bare and all you could see were the branches. but with spring in the air, these plants sure make the place look much fresher.

the post box in the foreground (the bown thing with the word US on it) is actually not for people like you and me to post letters. basically the postman from the us postal service would drop the letters for that area/postal code and it would be picked up by the postman serving that area/postal code in that box. no wonder i couldn't find any slots to slot the letters in.

there are not that many traffic lights here compared to singapore. instead they utilize stop signs like the ones above. so at every junction, the vehicle is expected to stop and check for pedestrians/traffic before moving off. good luck to those using manual cars.

this is a typical bus stand in us, or at least in philadelphia. 57 is the route, or what we singaporeans would call bus, number. just stand there and when the bus comes, flag in down. one cool thing about these buses is that they are elderly and disabled friendly. the bus can lower itself, or what the americans call a kneeling bus, for the elderly to board, and there are also arrangements to anchor down a wheelchair on board the bus. will try to get some videos to show you what i mean in the future.

posted by Tariq @ 5:08 PM