Scooters. The small Honda scooter rented in downtown Khao Lak didn't quite handle like my Harley so it took some getting used too. I wobbled around the corners, strayed into the other lane often enough to hear Moon yelling, "left, left, left", and sometimes getting from the curb to the street/highway was an off-road experience. Finally my comfort level rose to a point where I was confident of not falling over diving into a corner.
The majority of Thais ride scooters...young and old. Cars are a nice luxury but scooters are essential to getting around. There is an strong element of trust between the folks on scooters and cars and trucks. Everybody watches out for everyone else. Fast, slow or erratic what ever you're doing is respected by other drivers. If you're prone to road rage this is not the place for you....you wouldn't survive 10 minutes here. The Thais like to pack them on the two wheelers like a "full meal deal". We passed a scooter yesterday with a small child..(like a 1-2 year old) in between two men..the rider with one hand on the child and holding a rather large bag of groceries with the other and a 8 year old hanging off the back. That would be 4 in all and not an unusual site to see...just business as usual. Off in the distance down the highway was a blob coming straight at us. When the blob neared it was actually a scooter with a sidecar piled so high with stuff it looked as if would topple over at any second. But they never did.
Things I forgot to mention about Khao Lak...oysters, the size of a nickel, all over the rocks in front of the hotel...the seafood plate lit on fire with flames jumping 10 feet into the air....the cook coming out from that restaurant to thank us for coming (a second time, the food was so good)....the fact that we could have a great big meal for 400 baht or roughly 12 bucks...and that was a pretty expensive dinner...a ride into the jungle on the scooter was fun and relaxing.
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