Personal blog travel to Laos

Before I came to Southeast Asia, I had these adventurous account of exploring places on the aback of a motorbike. Wind alarming in my hair, rice fields as far as the eye can see, endlessly in rural towns alternating the way for a little break…
I know, I know, I anticipate aback now and agitate my arch at that babe with those aboveboard ideas. If she alone knew aback again what active is absolutely like in this allotment of the world…
Renting scooters is something that Sam and I went aback and alternating on for a while. I capital to ride a scooter about arctic Thailand; he kept cogent me how alarming the anchorage were and how drivers (in bigger vehicles) had little attention for beggarly scooters on the highway. I, of course, anticipation he was accepting attentive and scoffed at his abridgement of adventure.

Well, bygone closed the accord for me. I’ve been travelling about SE Asia for four months now and I’ve apparent my fair allotment of hazard on wheels, but it was yesterday’s cruise from Chiang Mai to the Thai-Burmese border, that absolutely fabricated me see how adventuresome it would be to ride a scooter alternating the anchorage we were travelling on.
I was travelling in a 14 accepting minivan and I basically spent the absolute adventure captivation assimilate the duke abuse in foreground of me for baby life.
Our disciplinarian sped uphill, downhill, about curves, assimilate advancing traffic, about aching a motorbike, anesthetized trucks and buses as he connected dispatch down the amiss ancillary of the road, braked endure minute casting us into the bench in front, about aching addition vehicle…
I knew I wasn’t overreacting if the laid aback German backpacker in our minivan absitively it was time to band on his bench belt, tight.
It was four hours of ache there, and four hours of ache back.
The signs alternating the artery which declared ’40 km/hr’ and ‘use low gear’ were airy in his eyes, as was the chicken band adding advancing traffic.
Sure, seeing the countryside by motorbike sounds like a abundant idea, but the botheration is that in a abode area drivers don’t chase rules, THEY are putting YOUR lives at risk. You ability anticipate benumbed a scooter looks simple as pie, but what about the added motorists about you? They’re not traveling to be searching out for you and slowing down just because it’s your aboriginal time benumbed and you wish to accept a nice holiday.
And again there’s the babe I saw a bygone abiding a motorbike at a rental boutique in Chiang Mai with the nastiest burns and scrapes ALL OVER HER BODY. She had acutely agitated over and you could acquaint it was a awful drift by all the marks on her forearm, elbow, shoulder, calf, and knees. But she’s not the alone one. If you’ve spent any time in SE Asia, you’ve apparent them too – travellers with bruises, bankrupt aqueduct burns on their legs, bandaged elbows, and even arm casts.
Chances are that was a motorbike accident.
I’m not aggravating to alarm you into not benumbed a scooter or motorbike about Southeast Asia, but the absoluteness is that a lot of travellers get aching every day, so don’t go into it blindly cerebration it’ll be like accepting on a bicycle.
Riding a motorbike can be trickier than it looks, so do yourself a favour, if you’re absolutely agog on accomplishing the motorbike thing, yield a few acquaint aback at home. That way you’ll at atomic apperceive how to accord with aciculate curves, gravel, wet roads, and you’ll apperceive how to bang the bike abroad should you abatement while riding. Also, abrasion adapted accouterment – shorts, cast flops and a sleeveless shirt aren’t traveling to do you any favours.
Sure, maybe I am accepting a bit too ‘safe’ and I’m missing out on accepting a abundant time, but at the end of the day, I apperceive I don’t accept the accomplishment to ride a scooter or a motorbike on these roads. Plus accepting on a artery area humans are active like it’s NASCAR would be allurement for trouble.