Over the years traveling in Thailand I’ve always enjoyed the van rides around the country. I love seeing the scenery and watching life unfold by the side of the road. And then there are the motor scooters.
Dog on a Motor Scooter
In Thailand, you never know what you’re going to see go by on a motor scooter. Kasma took this picture of a dog balancing on a motor scooter as it shot past the van in Chiang Mai traffic. Apparently the pooch has great balance! She said it was one of many such scenes that she saw during her trips the past year.
(Click on an image to see a larger version.)
The most people I’ve ever seen on a scooter was 6 (one of them was a babe in arms) but it’s relatively common to see a family of 4 or 5 perched on a scooter, at least out in the countryside – you don’t see it as much in Bangkok. I took the photo to the below right in Hua Hin at a stop-light – presumably the three children are being “bussed” off to school.
Motor Scooter as Family Transportation
On one of our travels in Thailand, Kasma and I ended up on an island where motor scooters were the only mechanized form of transportation. After getting off the ferry, there was only one guy on a motor scooter left to take us to the resort on the other side of the island, so the two of us, with a piece of luggage each, piled on behind the driver. At least he took it slow!
In Bangkok you’re likely to see motorcycle taxis that you notice primarily for the dare-devil antics past your window as you sit in traffic. I think of them as a thrill sport – the one ride I took (and it was on a relatively slow street) was enough for a lifetime! Young women in skirts usually ride side-saddle on the back.
Motor Scooter as Pick-up Truck
Motor scooters also function as pick-up trucks. You’ll see almost anything being carried on the back, from television sets, to ladders (4 on one scooter), to produce, a Buddha statue, piles of boxes . . . nearly anything you can think of.
Kasma took this picture at the (indoor) market in Hua Hin. It’s fairly common to have motor scooters inch past you in the crowded lanes of a market, often, as we see here, laden down with deliveries going to the vendors.
Written by Michael Babcock, April 2009.