Bikin' Through Thailand

Thailand - August 28, 2006

Somewhere near Krabi, Thailand.We've been hearing the sweet sounds of freedom lately, courtesy of two 110cc second-hand motorbikes we recently purchased in southern Thailand. Although they a tad small, they still pack a nice punch, and even though we're carrying our large packs with us we have still managed a few long-haul drives.

Having the bikes has been a great change in scenery for us and has also given us the opportunity to go to places trains and buses couldn't. So far, we've taken them from HatYai to Krabi, Phuket and Ko Samui, traveling through remote jungle areas, islands (putting them on the ferry) and even a few beaches. This has also given us a great appreciation for the land and the people of Thailand. We have also experienced a bit of the joy of the monsoon season while driving. Although we're not quite yet in the peak of the rainy season, we have hit several torrential downpours that are so thick the rain feels like hail cruising at 80km/hr. During the hot and very humid days, however, the rain has provided us a surprising relief.

Thais use motorbikes as their main mode of transportation. In fact, many shopping malls we've seen have more parking spaces for motorcycles than cars. Many are so accustomed to driving motorcycles, it is not rare to see parents carrying young babies in the front near the handle bars or a family of four whisking down the road. And in most cities, we have seen many bikes loaded with so much weight from produce sacks or building materials it's amazing they are even drivable.

On our first day in Bangkok, we got a real taste of the corruption within the police system while driving our motorcycles to the US Embassy. I was a half block ahead of Patrick (traveling in a pack with local motorcyclists), when I noticed a cop in the middle of the road pointing at me and flagging me off the road. My first reaction was to continue driving, but I suddenly had visions of being bound and locked in a Thai prison, so I quickly obliged to his request. I rolled to a stop and the policeman immediately asked to see my license and told me that I had been illegally driving in the wrong lane. (I knew immediately that he was lying or that 100 other motorcyclists were also breaking the law with me). As, I showed the officer my license, he snatched it out of my hands, pocketed it and said "You pay 900 baht (or $25) if you want license back!" I asked him to explain to me what I did wrong but he began walking away. As I followed him, he signaled to the police station and said "You go inside!"

By this time, I was not only stressed about the police situation, but was also fearful that Patrick and I had lost contact with no discussion of a rendezvous point. Ironically, as I walked towards the station, I noticed another police officer escorting Patrick. (Understand, there were literally hundreds of motorcycles driving by every few minutes without being stopped. It is quite a coincidence we were both stopped). Sadly, Patrick was in exactly the same predicament as me having given up his license and the policeman demanding money for it's return. We had both heard about this sort of scam... often with passports... but felt helpless being unable to speak Thai or argue with the police that our alleged citations were completely bogus. The "normal" thing that is done (apparently) is to slip the officer(s) a bill or four in return for the item the have taken. Hearing about this scam, we decided that we would call the tourist police from the police office and wait as long as it took for them to arrive.

After 10 minutes of waiting, the officer that had pulled me over came back into the station and was fuming. "Why you still here! Why you not go to police station!," he said. "We wait for tourist police," we replied. "WHAT! Oh no! You go to police station NOW!," he responded. We calmly answered back "No, that's okay. We wait." (This was apparently not the reply he was looking for). He jolted for the door, swung it open, pointed his finger at us and yelled "You go NOW!" We continued to sit there calmly. After realizing we weren't going to budge, he grabbed Patrick's arm and started pulling him towards the door. "NOW!," he said.

The officer ran to his motorbike, started it up, and then pointed at us again and said "You follow me now!" We both looked at each other, a bit dazed and pumped with adrenaline and decided we should probably comply with his request. He was obviously becoming very impatient with us, and we did not want to push him any further. We also knew that we couldn't afford to split up, so recreating our favorite movie scene was sadly out of the question. But, we found an opportunity once we were on our bikes and the officer sped ahead on the one-way road. We decided that we would cruise at the lowest possible speed until he was out of site. However, after a few minutes of putting along, we spotted him waiting on the left side of the road at a Shell station a few blocks ahead (obviously fuming). But, before he got a visual on us, we were able to spot a large truck approaching us from behind. In movie-like fashion, we synchronized our speeds with the truck, just as it passed the station, and sped off out of site.

 

 

Add Your Comment...

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: