I Motorbike, Therefore I Am

I have found that there is nothing more freeing and exhilarating than when I am driving my motorbike. Think The Motorcycle Diaries except on a sexy red Honda S100 that has bunny stickers on it.

At orientation, we were strongly advised to stay off motorbikes. But, after getting up to Thawangpha and seeing everyone and their mother (quite literally) riding them around town, I felt like I was missing out on a true Thailand experience. When I say that everyone rides them here, I mean EVERYONE. From the 95-year-old woman and all her chickens to the 4 person family. I am not even kidding when I say that. I have actually seen mom, dad, their toddler, and their baby all packed onto a motorbike before. What finally decided it for me was seeing the school parking lot. As you can see in the photo, pretty much all the students ride them to school. Now, I couldn't have my students whizzing their motorbikes past me as I was huffing it to the market everyday, could I? No! I am a 29 year old woman, I can surely handle driving a scooter!

One evening, as we were walking along the highway (seems more dangerous than riding a motorbike, eh?) to go back to our house, two guys on a motorbike pulled over to ask us the usual, "Where are you going? Where have you been? Have you eaten yet?". We started talking to them and the one guy, Poon, spoke pretty good English. We mentioned that we were interested in either buying or renting motorbikes for the next four months and asked if he knew anyone who could help us out. As fate would have it, Poon lived and worked in Phuket for a number of years and is quite the business man. He happened to have a number of motorbikes that he said he would be happy to rent to us. Obviously, we were stoked, and the rest is history.

I named my motorbike Alison, not only because she is sexy and has tons of spunk, but also because she never lets me down. As you can see, I always wear my helmet because I believe in safety first! I might be the only person that wears a helmet in Thawangpha, and I am pretty sure my students make fun of me, but I don't care. Now that I have her, I really can't imagine not having her in my life. Practically speaking, it is just so helpful for getting around town. We live on the school grounds which is a ways from the center of town, so walking would not be fun. It also gives me more freedom to give private English lessons and earn more Baht.

Going beyond practicalities, when I ride my motorbike is when, "Holy crap, I am living in Thailand" hits me the most. Sometimes I take her out around dusk and just drive down a random country road. It is so beautiful sometimes I get tears in my eyes. Just imagine the sun setting, bright orange or red in the sky, just above the mountains. I am looking out on a beautiful landscape with farmers and mules working in their fields and the smell of burning brush in the air. The wind on my face and the beautiful expanse of it all is so overwhelming sometimes I feel like I might explode. It hits me hard - this is why I am here, this is the feeling that life is all about. Living in the moment has never been so easy.