04 Dec Conquering Asia on a Scooter: Thrills, Spills, and Crucial Safety Tips
From the girl who said next time she’s in Asia, she’s learning how to ride a scooter, to driving speeds up to 120 km/h to reach Asia’s Golden Triangle and conquering the windiest road in Thailand (762 turns to be exact) – this gal is #liberated.
There is nothing quite like the feeling of AirPods in, wind in your face, and sunglasses on while cruising past the crystal blue waters, revving up a hill to catch the sunset, or quickly nipping off for a 7-Eleven toastie run.
It’s fun. You feel on top of the world. Free.
Not to mention the good old scooter gang. The posse cruising along the streets, weaving, winding, and toot-tooting. Group session on Spotify, feeling like you’re in a music video. Star of your own show.
You are in complete control. You have the responsibility. You are powerful.
(Although, I did not quite enjoy feeling like I was being shot at every time a bug flew into my chest.)
All those things equal a strong dose of dopamine and empowerment. Hell yeah. However, they can also equate to mass impulsiveness and stupidity.
To anyone who has been to Asia or you might have experienced this yourself, but there is no shortage of victims to a Thai tattoo from coming off these very powerful and dangerous vehicles.
“It can’t be that hard,” “I’ll be fine,” “Yeah, jump on,” “It’s only down the road,” “I haven’t had that much to drink.”
I think you know where this is going.
You/we are not invincible!
We were not brought up squished between three people and a cage of chickens hanging off the back of a scooter. We see how easy locals make it look and we think we can too. We do not arrive in Asia, offload our backpack, and suddenly acquire expert knowledge of:
a) The road rules,
b) How to manoeuvre a heavy and powerful vehicle, and
c) How to transport yourself, let alone more than one person behind you.
Like most things in life, it takes learning and it takes practice.
The scooter companies don’t really want to hold your passport and a hefty deposit hostage. They care about you. Well, maybe more for the state of the bike, but they know 9 times out of 10 someone or something is coming back damaged.
I had one lady almost in tears when I told her I wanted to take her scooter from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, alone for 3 days.
A) Because I was a girl,
B) Because I am simply not used to riding on highways that vast and at that kind of speed.
Although I proved to her just how capable independent solo female travellers are and brought myself—and my very sexy black bike—back (see below) in one piece, I know she worried because many others didn’t.
These are heavy and fast machines. They can and will destroy you, your friends, and your family.
If we haven’t seen it, we’ve heard about it. ‘That’ is a horrific story. The one where she just went to get some cigarettes. The one where he was convinced he was sober. The one where they shed a few layers of skin. Or the one where they died.
I’m not trying to kill the vibe here. I too like things that go fast. And so by all means, go feel powerful. But in the right way. Feel proud that you know what you’re doing and you’re in control. Proud that you have the mental capability to look after yourself and everyone else around you.
It takes one person to mess it up. One person to change a life.
Go live your best life on your Asia gap year. Go be #liberated. But, don’t be a fool.
Make smart choices. Think before you drive.
Talk to ME!
No Comments