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How many kids in one car?





In 1990's one of my memorable Lunar New Year holiday occured and I never forget the day. Traditioanlly we visited our oldest parent or grandparent than start visiting other relatives families. It usually takes at least 3 days and we still have more families to visit. Our aunts and uncles expect us to visit and when we arrive they steam dumplings and prepare big table. When the guest leave the host family gives gift to every one. Children and adults all get something.

One problem was many families did not have cars. During the day we use public bus and walk on the street. Sometimes all my cousins and their parents walk together for 1-2 miles or 2-3 kilometers to next families. Big groups of people walking on the street. Kids are happy because they get lots of candies and cash as gift from every family they visit.

One time one my uncle bought an old Russian car and he was only car owner among our relatives. After the last visit to one of our relatives it was late night and there were no bus. So, we crammed in a little car. It was smaller than Toyota Corolla. As I remember we were 13 of us and even one person set by the driver and the door couldn't be closed. We safely drove and arrived at our home and the Russian car was tough enough to carry us.

This video is from the far west of Mongolia, the Russian Jeep picks up children form local nomadic families to take them to the vilage kinder garden. Guess how many kids can fit in this car?

When the economy is getting better there are more people owning car. Right after Soviet regime collapsed we were becoming able to own a car and the first people started owning car was big deal and it was luxury life style. Ulaanbaatar street did not have many cars and accedents were rare. Last 30 years the people started buying cars and it became ordinary for people to have a car. Now almost every family has a vehicle and new problem arised. The traffic is horrible in the capital city and every person drives car and no place to park. In the video from many years ago we picked up many children in 1 car and delivered them to the kindergarden. Now in the cities every child taken by a car and the kinder garden area is fully jammed with cars. Lots of people suggest idea of having public transportation and stop using too many cars. Is that possible?

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