Riding rules for Thailand. (with pics and a couple short vids)

[roundhouse]

Most will not read all of this. That is OK, I did it more for myself. But do look at the pics. I think they are cool.

1. Riding style: Simple, ride just like you would ride in the USA, Canada ect.......if you are a massive hooligan squid riding a ragged out gixxer 750, have no regard for traffic safety or rules and had a deathwish. (This is normal)

2. Lane splitting: Lane splitting in Thailand is more like a free for all. Direction of the lane, sidewalks, shoulder, mean nothing to a Thai motorcyclist. Just try to get to the front of EVERYONE by any means necessary. (I realize there is no front but they act like there is and they at least want pole position for every stop)

3. Red lights: You may abide by this if a light turns red.....BUT you will be rear ended and/or honked at. I call it the 50/50 rule of stopping. Red lights mean go until the drivers with the green start to filter through the perpendicular traffic and build up enough volume to make it double suicidal to go through the light. So 50% of the time you will be going through an intersection on a red light.

4. Share your lane: The lines on the road are 100% optional. Many times you will find yourself sharing the lane with a tuk tuk (3 wheel motorized carts for tourists that drive like the devil is trying to steal their soul), cars, trucks, and of course 2-4 bikes side by side in one "lane". Also not that on a bike you can drive through opposing traffic by the opposite curb or just outside your lanes of direction into opposing traffic as long as you stay within say 2 feet which gives you about 6-8 inches of buffer between you and the cars coming at you in their lane.

5. Checkpoints: I only rode in Chiang Mai and Ao Nang but I assume there are checkpoints in most major cities that you must stop at. I am sure it is to congest already wickedly congested traffic.

5. International drivers license: No need, our rental guy asked me if I had one. I said "No" and began to gather my stuff as I was sure he would not rent me a bike. He said "it problem no" or something and wrote me out a paper and told me "Show police for stop". Oh, a temporary permit or something on official paper. AWESOME! 1st checkpoint, hand the paper. He looks at it, hands it back and waves me along. 2nd and last checkpoint, looks, says "You already pay fine?" I think he means for money for my permit and say "yes". He says "You get license next one." I say "OK" even though I just got this one. We take off. Later when I got back to the hotel, I used google translate to see what my "temp permit" said.........IT WAS A FORGED CHIANG MAI POLICE CITATION THAT SAID I HAD ALREADY BEEN PULLED OVER AND FINED EARLIER THAT DAY! Hey it worked, does that make me an international criminal and biker badass?

6. Turning lanes: Easiest one, turn from whatever lane you are in if you think you can make it.

7. IF YOU AIN’T RUBBING, YOU AIN’T RACING!: This holds true in Thailand daily driving, honestly I cannot believe I only saw 2 accidents. (one was some french tourists who obviously have never ridden and wrecked within 50 feet of the rental shop by trying to stop while avoiding....well nothing I saw or maybe he felt he was going too fast but slammed the brakes with the handlebars turned I think. I saw the whole thing and knew they were in trouble from the first 10 feet that they almost fell over. My wife comforted the girl who used her kneecap to break their fall. Other accident was 2 cars) My scoot touched at least 8 other motos in the hours we drove like it was no big deal a couple times the floorboards touched mostly it was front or back tires which is scary at 40 kph. But they were all very gentle and I fell into the rhythm of the traffic quickly. You can figure out what KPH is as I never bothered. My max speed was about 90 KPH in the straights.

8. Driving on the WRONG side of the road: They do it in Thailand although sometimes I drove on the right (or correct as I an American would say) following a pack of motos. My brain screamed every time I made a right hand turn. Lefts were easy. No need to even slow on a left hand turn even if you have a red light. (I started feeling like I was less a motorcyclist and more a part of a school of fish. Follow the school because if you find yourself outside the school you can be picked off by a predator. Safety in numbers)

9. Gear: Street clothes are fine. Apparently flip flops are the preferred moto footwear. Moto taxis and delivery people did wear long sleeves and real shoes. Saw maybe 2 guys with real, full gear. A few girls wore oversized long sleeve shirts backwards over their clothes.

I have more rules but I am rolling on about 2 hours of naps in the last 48.

What a great time and what a great bike culture most bikes I saw were modded in some way. Most were 150 CC or smaller. Saw a few bigger bikes. My son said best way is the instagrams for sharing. So I did one and have no idea what I am doing so here are many pics I took on the instagrams. My wife took the pic of me on the scoot. I have no idea why she did not center it but that scooter served us well and it got DOGGED! My wife is 140# and I am 175# which is what a whole Thai family of 5 might weigh. I think it was about 250 cc as I could outrun the guys on the CB150s and MX15s both 150 cc full sized motorcycles.

I am no picture taker, and by the short vids I included you will note I have a fetish for 2 strokes and those ancient vespa style scooters

(one pic in those is in Doha Qatar. cannot remember which. Look for Arabic writing on a sign.)

I attached a google maps screenshot of that awesome mountain road.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9b9XI4h..._web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9b-LThh...on_share_sheet

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9b9_azh..._web_copy_link

[culcune]

WOW! Just WOW! Sounds like a ton o' fun, albeit scary! But, I have ridden a similarly powerful scooter (Yamaha SMax) in downtown L.A. traffic, so I know a teeny bit of what you were going through

[2LZ]

DANG! Makes Bay Area traffic seem tame!
Thanks for the awesome read, roundhouse!.... and I thought culcune delivering pizza's in LA was crazy....

[AJboughtamoto]

I loved riding in Thailand, there is often a strange order to what at 1st seems chaos. There are thousands of miles of amazing roads and trails. If your riding a dualsport look up Chud Bikers House Cudjen. Chud is a great guy and he will take you on amazing rides. There is also a really fun little motocross track called Hang MX nearby.( May have been renamed but still found by Hang MX on google)

[pete]

I love Asia... a very cool layed back place.. and cheap..

I prefer riding around Thailand or Asia in fact , than at home..
apart from driving a car around Bangkok... Never again NEVER..

Good to see you got away with the 500baht fine for not having the correct
documents ..they love fining farang's for something/anything..
Passport / Home drivers licence / international driving permit you need
to carry to keep them all happy..

You went to early... a few weeks later and there is the Bangkok bike show
on the 25th March and the Songkran 12-15 April…

You had fun.. Seen something new and that's what it's all about..
started planning your next trip..

I fly back on the 29th for a month in Khon Kaen is north east
Thailand up towards the Loas boarder.. I hope to do a trip riding
along the Mekong river... Meaning to do it for a while now but every time
there I never seem to get around to it.... this time..



.

[roundhouse]

Originally Posted by pete

I love Asia... a very cool layed back place.. and cheap..

I prefer riding around Thailand or Asia in fact , than at home..
apart from driving a car around Bangkok... Never again NEVER..

Good to see you got away with the 500baht fine for not having the correct
documents ..they love fining farang's for something/anything..
Passport / Home drivers licence / international driving permit you need
to carry to keep them all happy..

You went to early... a few weeks later and there is the Bangkok bike show
on the 25th March and the Songkran 12-15 April…

You had fun.. Seen something new and that's what it's all about..
started planning your next trip..

I fly back on the 29th for a month in Khon Kaen is north east
Thailand up towards the Loas boarder.. I hope to do a trip riding
along the Mekong river... Meaning to do it for a while now but every time
there I never seem to get around to it.... this time..



.

No man, ZERO fine due to forged documents from the bike rental guy. HAHA.

Guys it was an excellent experience. I doubt I will ever get to go back unfortunately. It was tough this time. In a few years it will be far more difficult.

[pete]

Originally Posted by roundhouse

No man, ZERO fine due to forged documents from the bike rental guy. HAHA.

Guys it was an excellent experience. I doubt I will ever get to go back unfortunately. It was tough this time. In a few years it will be far more difficult.

Yes I know....
You managed to dodge a bullet there...
That the police never picked up on it " westener using forged official Thai document's "..
that would not have turned out well...





.

[culcune]

I was thinking when I read Roundhouse's post that you have ridden Thailand as well, Pete? I know you were going soon as well, but you had been there?

[pete]

Originally Posted by culcune

I was thinking when I read Roundhouse's post that you have ridden Thailand as well, Pete? I know you were going soon as well, but you had been there?

Yes I am there twice a year... Be more if I could but Thailand only lets you
enter 2 times in any 12 month period on tourist visa's..
The flights are quite cheap and only 10 hours flight time from New Zealand

I will live there half the year when I retire from work..


roundhouse.... where was the picture of the coast taken ?
Chonburi … Samet area...


..

[roundhouse]

Originally Posted by pete

Yes I am there twice a year... Be more if I could but Thailand only lets you
enter 2 times in any 12 month period on tourist visa's..
The flights are quite cheap and only 10 hours flight time from New Zealand

I will live there half the year when I retire from work..


roundhouse.... where was the picture of the coast taken ?
Chonburi … Samet area...


..

Ao Nang. Quite touristy but I went out in the rural area which was pretty sketchy to go fishing. Ended up having a blast. Caught some strange fish and drank a brew with the guy running it who spoke pretty good English and was a Muay Thai instructor that retired due to a bad break in his wrist. I love Muay Thai and have done it for over ten years.

[pete]

Originally Posted by roundhouse

Ao Nang. Quite touristy but I went out in the rural area which was pretty sketchy to go fishing. Ended up having a blast. Caught some strange fish and drank a brew with the guy running it who spoke pretty good English and was a Muay Thai instructor that retired due to a bad break in his wrist. I love Muay Thai and have done it for over ten years.

Ao Nang... Had to use google earth to find that... near Krabi/Puket
you got around in a short time...
one end of thailand to the other...


..

[roundhouse]

Originally Posted by pete

Ao Nang... Had to use google earth to find that... near Krabi/Puket
you got around in a short time...
one end of thailand to the other...


..

Flights from Bangkok to Krabi and from Krabi to Chiang Mai were all under $35. Back to Bangkok was only $27 each. Way better than spending 8 hours on a bus. Flights were all less than 2 hours a cab was normally $200 Baht or so to get to town.


Glad we got to see more than just Bangkok.

[Apollo 007]

Very Cool read Man ! I got into it enough to read every post. Thanks for sharing ! Oh and your girl was putting some scenery in the pic and you thought it was all about YOU. LOL !!!

[Rastar]

I have seen so many fatalities in Bangkok. Scary stuff there for sure