The terrorists that attacked Mumbai came to the city via sea. The effortless way in which they entered the city and took it hostage begs the question of why India doesn’t have a better naval security system or the larger and more important question of why an international city like Mumbai, with massive traffic woes doesn’t use its waterways better?

Other Asian cities such as Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and Taiwan all use their waterways to some extent - either to ease traffic congestion, for tourism or for floating markets. An inexpensive and environment friendly way to commute, using inland waterways is increasingly been promoted by governments as a better way to move about.

The best example is probably Bangkok’s boats that ply both between the two banks of the Chao Phraya river as well as along the river. Transporting thousands of people a day, Thailand’s river transportation has considerably solved the massive traffic and pollution the city suffered from.

Charged according to the distance traveled and the type of boat (express boats, river taxis and tail-boats), Bangkok’s boats work not only as transport aides, but also as a tourist sites. Most tour books recommend visitors take a day’s ride down the Chao Phraya to get a glimpse of bangkok city life people washing their clothes, selling flowers or fruits or even having a bath in the river. Tourist passes are available, with boats stopping at ten major piers and provides access to attractions like Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) the Grand Palace, Wat Po and the Royal Barge Museum.

Besides local inland water transportation for domestic use countries have also adopted international water links. Those who do not like to fly can use the ferries that ply regularly between China and Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Macau and Hong Kong and between the Philippine islands.

While efforts have been made to improve waterways and encourage commuters to use Asia’s rivers’s a lot more needs to be done, especially as cars continue to congest highways and oil prices soar.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Travel, Business, Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.