Myped

So far throughout our trip we have only hired a jeep, which whilst being pretty cool, is just like driving anything else back home. I was starting to think I wouldn’t get the chance to have a whirl on a moped. I have very briefly ridden a couple before when having a go on friend’s mopeds when I was younger, but never really to any great extent. As part of our accommodation in Krabi we were given one free moped to share. Now as Ian had ridden one before he was happy to cruise around with me on the back, but as I was about as experienced on a moped as Ian is with not being vain, he didn’t seem too keen to be sitting on the back with me driving. Too be fair I can see his point….and even more so as he is so well prepared that his travel insurance has already run out. I’m sure I could re attached his beak with some surgical tape and splint his legs with some lolly pop sticks if need be.  With all this in mind I inquired as to the cost to hire another one, it’s actually stupidly cheap when you think about it as it cost £3 (150 Baht) and so we split the cost. Other than that you just need to leave your passport with them in case you do a runner.

After a couple of quick practice runs we hit the road and I drove like a granny in a mobility scooter for the first short journey we did, it was about as convincing as late night BBC 3 acting. Not long after this I found my feet (and the throttle) and was flying.

Having never done it before, I would defiantly recommend it to anyone travelling out here. You don’t need any previous experience, just take it easy at the start and before you know it you’ll be overtaking tuk tuks and undercutting other mopeds just like the locals.
There are defiantly no real rules when it comes to the driving style over here and much of the same can be said for road safety. You would be hard pressed to find anyone wearing a helmet and will see up to 4 people (including children as young as one) being whizzed around on these things. I kid you not when I tell you I have seen and entire family on one moped. All this side it’s such a liberating experience to be able to just take yourself wherever you want around your destination and it’s really fun….I’m addicted. I will say however, the amount of people you meet on your travels who are carrying moped related injuries is insane…….part and parcel I guess.

Oh and as an additional note, I’m not sure how much petrol is exactly but we put 100 baht in each (£2) and we have been going around most of the day and still have loads left, cheap as chips…….petrol flavoured chips.

In conclusion, I give it big thumbs up.

 

Love Scotty x