2002-01-24

Getting about on a scooter

Botter has offered to lend me the use of his 70cc Honda scooter. My first motorcycle was a Honda CL70 which had a top-speed of 45 mph if I would crouch down low to reduce wind resistance. That was many years and 40 lbs ago so I don't expect the same from this scooter. It will be good enough to explore the local villages but I will need something bigger to get to town or to go any distance. I ask Botter how the turn signals work. "Don't worry about that, they don't work."

All gas is 'full service' in Thailand. I think she asked me what kind of gas I wanted and I held up my finger for "one" indicating the best gas. Wrong, she had asked me how much gas I wanted so I only got a single liter. Now I've learned to indicate full by raising my hand over my head as if water is rising. It seems to work.

Gas is manually pumped from a 50-gallon drum into a glass cylinder with measuring tick marks on the side to count out the liters. Then gravity carries it down a plastic tube into your tank. It's the same as the old gas stations in the U.S. The gas stations in the city are of the modern variety and are staffed with uniformed attendants.

I went to a motorcycle repair shop to get the turn signal fixed. Total cost for a new turn signal and labor was 40 baht. That's less than a dollar at the current exchange rate of 42:1. Not bad!

I had to come back the next day because the screws came loose and it fell off the scooter. At least they fixed it for free and, presumably, used better screws this time.

At the big market you can buy chicken legs, fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, and, of course, fried insects.

Walk by the market and your nostrils will be invaded with all sorts of strong smells. The pungent odors will usually repulse the first-time foreign visitor. Botter says that you know you've become acclimated to Thailand when you pass by a market and start to salivate.

Three varieties of fried insects that look a lot like crickets, cockroaches and waterbugs. On one of my earlier visits to Bangkok a Thai girl approached me with two of these in her hands. She bit into one and offered the other to me. She was really teasing me- trying to shock the foreigner for a laugh. I decided to surprise her and took it from her hand and tossed it casually into my mouth as if I munched on these all the time. It was crunchy.

Another bike repair shop with the contents of an engine disassembled on the floor. Little bike shops and machine shops are everywhere. The staff are expert at keeping things running and improvising where necessary.

A motorcycle taxi near the village. Motorcycles with sidecars are a popular way to carry things here. It's all improvised. The sidecars are hand-built and rigged to attach to motorcycles and scooters that were never intended to take a sidecar.

Look closely at this one. Dogs love sidecars.